The UFS strives to be an institution where diverse people feel a sense of common purpose and belonging, and where the symbols and spaces, systems and daily practices all reflect a commitment to openness and engagement. We respond to the needs of the local community, while participating in global knowledge production. We engage actively with our colonial and apartheid legacies and recognise the common humanity and the universal nature of the intellectual endeavour.
The UFS is a place for scholarly deliberations, and as such, our culture will be characterised by shared and competing views, agreements, and disagreements of constructive and critical engagement where ideas are discussed, contested, improved, and implemented.
To this end, the institutional culture will mirror the University’s values of excellence, innovation, accountability, care, sustainability, and social justice. This culture requires values that are not only professed but are put into action in our strategising, teaching, research, as well as in our local and global engagements.