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14 October 2025 | Story Lacea Loader
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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

New challenges for animal science discussed
2006-04-04

Some of the guests attending the congress were from the left Dr Heinz Meissner (honorary president of the South African Society for Animal Science (SASAS) and senior manager at the Animal Production Institute of the Agricultural Research Council), Mr Paul Bevan (President of SASAS) and Prof Magda Fourie (Vice-Rector:  Academic Planning at the UFS).
Photo: Lacea Loader

New challenges for animal science discussed  

The South African Society for Animal Science (SASAS) is presenting its 41st Congress at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Main Campus in Bloemfontein. 

The congress started yesterday and will run until Thursday 6 April 2006.  The theme is New challenges for the animal science industries.

It is one of the largest congresses in the 45 years since SASAS was founded in 1961.  Among the delegates 12 African countries are represented, with the biggest delegation from Kenya.  Delegates are also from the United States of America, Iran, Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal and African countries like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana.

“Many of our members play an important role in the training of animal scientists at universities.  The congress is specifically industry orientated so that scientists can interact with farmers through the respective producer organisations,” said Prof HO de Waal, Chairperson of the organising committee and lecturer at the UFS Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences.

According to Dr Heinz Meissner, honorary president of SASAS and a senior manager at the Animal Production Institute of the Agricultural Research Council, the National Livestock Strategy (NLS) Plan clarifies the role and responsibility of the livestock sector. 

“Through this strategy we need to focus on enhancing equitable access and participation in livestock agriculture, improve global competitiveness and profitability of the livestock sector and ensure that the ventures implemented do not over utilise our resources,” said Dr Meissner.

In her welcoming address, Prof Magda Fourie, Vice-Rector:  Academic Planning at the UFS highlighted the related challenges that the UFS will be focusing on specifically over the next five years.  “We have identified five strategic clusters that represent broad areas of excellence in research and post-graduate education.  Two of these are food production, quality and safety for Africa and sustainable development,” she said.

“The food safety and security cluster will focus on the production of food in all its varieties within the African context, encompassing the entire value chain – from production to consumption and nutrition related issues.  This would include a strong emphasis on sustainable production systems,” she said.

According to Prof Fourie the rural development cluster will engage in questions around the role of higher education in sustainable development.  “One of the focus areas in this strategic cluster pertains to sustainable livelihoods.  It refers to a way of approaching development that incorporates all aspects of human livelihoods and means by which people obtain them,” she said.

Prof Fourie said that the challenges we are facing such as food production can only be effectively addressed through collaborative efforts.  “That is why it is important that collaboration takes place between different scientific disciplines, researchers, institutions and countries who are confronted with similar difficulties,” she said.

According to Prof de Waal the congress will give key role players a unique opportunity to present a profile of what they perceive an animal scientist should be and state their specific requirement regarding the animal sciences and its applications. 

“In this way we can determine what the industry’s needs are and we can re-align our curriculum to suit these needs,” said Prof de Waal.

During the next two days, various areas of interest will be discussed.  This includes ruminant and monogastric nutrition, animal physiology, beef, dairy, sheep and ostrich breeding and sustainable farming covering the range from commercial to the small-scale farming level.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
4 April 2006

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