Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Months
January February March May April June July August September October
Previous Archive
14 October 2025 | Story Lacea Loader
Infographic

 

The University of the Free State (UFS) suspended all academic activities until further notice on 14 October 2025, following student protest actions that had taken place on its three campuses over the past week.

The protests are related to the introduction of a fairer, more equitable, and sustainable financial support system for ALL students as of 2026. Under this system, academically qualifying students will be fully registered once their fees or funding have been confirmed. All students funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will continue to be registered in full.  This will provide greater certainty about registration status and enable the gradual phasing out of provisional registration. The UFS is the only university in South Africa that allowed students to register while they still had outstanding fees.

 

Situation on the campuses 

The Qwaqwa Campus is closed with immediate effect, and students have been requested to vacate the campus within the next 24 hours. This decision follows incidents on the evening of 13 October 2025, during which a group of students caused extensive damage to university property, engaged in acts of vandalism and arson, and during which several security officers sustained injuries and three remain hospitalised. The university strongly condemns the violent and destructive behaviour displayed during these incidents. 

The Executive Management Committee (Exco) of the university expresses its deep concern about the situation on the Qwaqwa Campus and is currently assessing the full extent of the damage. 

The university’s Protection Services continues to monitor the situation closely to ensure the safety of staff and students. 

On the Bloemfontein and South Campuses, all lectures are suspended until further notice; however, only limited movement will be allowed on campus from 19:00 in the evening until 07:00 in the morning.

The university’s Exco has extended an invitation to the Student Representative Councils (SRCs) of all three campuses for continued engagement on the issues that have led to the protests. 

 

Circulation of false information on social media

The university has noted false social media reports alleging that a student was killed during the protest on the Qwaqwa Campus. These reports are incorrect. 

 

Impact of rising levels of student debt

For many years, the UFS was the only university in South Africa that allowed students to register while they still had outstanding fees. This practice reflected the university’s commitment to access. However, there are deep concerns about the rising levels of student debt and the accumulation, leaving students with unserviceable debt at graduation, and together with other contributing factors, debt levels have amounted to close to a billion rand over the past five years. 

A comprehensive review and analysis of the 2025 registration data found that the practice of provisional registration was not deemed an effective mechanism to support students with financial challenges. Each year, an average of 8% of UFS students were provisionally registered. In 2025, the majority of students who had registered provisionally and signed payment arrangements were unable to meet their commitments. This caused a high level of stress and uncertainty for students. 

Notably, students who were successfully registered in full in 2025 did so primarily through UFS-funded bursaries, rather than personal payment. 

 

Proactive, student-centred financial support strategy

To address this, and in agreement with the 2024/2025 Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC), the university has resolved to phase out provisional registration at the end of 2025 and implement a proactive, student-centred financial support strategy.

During a meeting between the university management and the Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) on 10 October 2025, it was agreed that the gradual phasing in of this system and approach will NOT affect the following students:

  1. Students who have confirmed funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), irrespective of their historical debt category.
  2. Students with confirmed financial aid and historic debt of less than R20 000.
  3. Students with debt outstanding less than R30 000 (these students can register in full for 2026, subject to the payment of a first payment and settlement of historic debt by 30 May 2026).
  4. Students with debt outstanding more than R30 000 need to reduce their historic debt to R30 000 to qualify for point 3 above. 

It was also agreed with the ISRC that academically qualifying students with historic debt of more than R30 000 will be prioritised in funding applications for bursaries, provided that proof of their own application is given. 

The implication of the above is that only 6% of currently registered students with outstanding fees will have to either obtain financial support in the form of bursaries or settle a portion of their fees. 

 

Bursary support for academically qualifying students 

Under the university’s student-centred financial support strategy, bursary applications for the 2026 academic year opened on 11 October 2025 for final-year bursaries, and other bursaries will open on 20 October 2025, giving students adequate time to plan and secure funding. The university will also provide targeted financial advising to help students manage their finances, apply for funding, and avoid registration-related crises. 

As part of this transition, no deregistration of provisionally registered students took place in 2025. In addition, the VC-ISRC Imbewu Legacy Fund has been established as a joint initiative between the university and the ISRC to create a dedicated vehicle for additional funding to support students at risk. Final-year and leadership bursaries have been created to assist academically qualifying final-year students in 2026 to settle historic debt, ensuring that deserving students are able to continue their studies and complete their qualifications. Applications for the VC-ISRC Imbewu Legacy Fund and the final-year and leadership bursaries must be submitted within the time period. 

The UFS remains committed to supporting all our students by building a fairer, more equitable, and sustainable support system that promotes access, success, and responsible financial sustainability.

 

 

Issued by:
Lacea Loader 
Senior Director: Communication and Marketing
University of the Free State 

News Archive

Student leaders 2012/13 announced
2012-08-30

Ready for the task - Sabelo Khumalo, SRC President of the Qwaqwa Campus and William Clayton, SRC President of the Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Johan Roux
31 August 2012

The 2012/13 elections for the Student Representative Councils (SRC) of the University of the Free State were completed successfully and show meaningful support for the changes in student governance adopted by students across campuses over the past two years.

The SRC elections at the Qwaqwa Campus were completed on 23 August 2012, while the elections at our Bloemfontein Campus took place on 27 and 28 August 2012.

The SRC Elections at our Bloemfontein Campus showed a voter turnout of 4516 votes (30.8%), with the elections at the Qwaqwa Campuses showing 1753 votes (46%) – both campuses reached the required quorums and the IEA (Bloemfontein Campus) and IEC (Qwaqwa Campus) declared the elections free and fair and announced the results as a true reflection of the will of the student bodies at the campuses.

The full SRC at Bloemfontein Campus now consists of 62% black and 38% white, and 53% female and 47% male members.

In the Qwaqwa elections, SADESMO achieved 46, 38% of the vote, with SASCO, PASMA and NASMO each achieving 30,23% and 8,39% and 14,26%, respectively.

The successful elections at Bloemfontein Campus show that the detailed transformation of student governance introduced by students at the Campus in 2010 and adopted by the university in 2011, succeeded in mobilizing greater participation of students in governance and representation. These changes in the main included a shift to independent candidacy for elective portfolios (12 seats) and organizational candidacy in nine sub-councils that holds ex officio seats on the SRC. Changes also included the establishment of student representative seats in faculty governance and management forums and the adoption of a reviewed Central SRC Constitution. Ex officio seats hold full and equal constitutional authority in the SRC.

Students at Qwaqwa Campus introduced additional portfolios to its SRC, including ex-officio seats for academic affairs, arts and culture, commuter students, Rag Community Service, religious affairs, residences and sports.

A joint sitting of the Campus SRCs will establish the Central SRC 2012/13 on 9 September 2012.

As a further opportunity for participation in and the development of student governance and representation, the current Central SRC herewith also announces its recent adoption of a student governance advisory programme, namely the UFS Student Elders Council (SEC).

The SEC is established as a combined programme between the Central SRC and the Dean of Student Affairs and will consist of selected senior student leaders from all campuses who completed their terms of office, apply and are appointed to the Elders Council by the Central SRC.

The Council will serve as an advisory structure to the Central SRC and other student structures in support of the continuous development of student governance and representation of the student body at the university.

The SEC will advise the Central SRC to be constituted following the constitution of the respective Campus SRCs.

The SRC members at the Bloemfontein Campus are:

President: Mr William Clayton

Vice-President: Mr Bonolo Thebe

Secretary: Ms Karis-Robin Topkin

Treasurer: Mr Pieter Coetzee

Arts & Culture: Ms Chanmari Erasmus

Accessibility & Student Support: Ms Gene McCaskill

First-generation Students: Ms Tanya Calitz

Legal and Constitutional Affairs: Ms Nokuthula Sithole

Media, Marketing & Liaison: Ms Neo Chere

Sport: Mr Tshepo Moloi

Student Development & Environmental Affairs: Ms Thabisile Mgadi

Transformation: Ms Koketso Mofokeng

Dialogue & Ex officio: Associations Council: Mr Anesu Ruswa

Academic Affairs & Ex officio: Academic Affairs Council: Ms Nombuso Ndlovu

Residence Affairs & Ex officio: Residences Council: Mr Johann Steyn

City Residence Affairs & Ex officio: Commuter Council: Mr Michael van Niekerk

Postgraduate Affairs & Ex officio: Postgraduate Council: Mr Fadeyi Akinsuyi

International Affairs & Ex officio: International Council: Ms Tumelo Moreri

Student Media Affairs & Ex officio: Media Council: Mr Jamal-Dean Grootboom

RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Fundraising Council: Mr Jaco Faul

RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Community Service Council: Ms Keneue Mahloana

The SRC members at the Qwaqwa Campus are:

President General: Mr S Khumalo

Deputy President: Mr P T Lenka

Secretary General: Mr D Khethang

Treasurer General: Mr S I Sithole

Media & Publicity: Mr S N Ntombela

Politics & Transformation: Tbc

Student Development & Evironmental Affairs: Tbc Academic Affairs: Mr T Molawude

Arts & Cultural Affairs: Mr T Nkohli

Off-Campus Students: Mr B Mtshali

RAG, Community Service & Dialogue: Ms S F Mlotya

Religious Affairs: Ms D C Khau

Residence & Catering Affairs: Ms Z Mzolo

Sports Council: Mr S Mngomezulu

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept