OVERVIEW Education and
OVERVIEW Education and training A CUT team attended the 2022 Enactus World Cup. SECTOR INSIGHT The University of the Free State has a new chancellor. data screening. The first phase of a major upgrade of the Hotel School of the CUT is complete. New chancellor Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State, Prof Bonang Francis Mohale, Chancellor of the UFS and Mr David Noko, Chairperson of the UFS Council. There were many causes for celebration at tertiary institutions in the Free State in 2021 and 2022. In July 2022 a team from the Central University of Technology (CUT) was announced as the winners of the 2022 Enactus South Africa National Competition at the Sandton Convention Centre for their crop farming project, Village Fa. They beat 12 other student-led Enactus projects in South Africa to secure the title. As one of four finalists selected for the Ford College Community Challenge (C3), run in partnership with non-profit organisation Enactus Global, the Ford Motor Company Fund and Ford South Africa, the Enactus CUT team used its 000 grant to establish crop farming and introduce vermiculture to Gladstone Village, located in Thaba Nchu, as a means of improving the economic development of the area. Vermiculture uses worms in composting. The team focused on creative approaches to dealing with protection of the environment, training underprivileged communities, job creation and income generation. Ford sponsored the team to represent South Africa, along with 32 other countries, that participated in the 2022 Enactus World Cup in Puerto Rico. The CUT has four faculties: Engineering, Built Environment and Information and Technology, Health and Environmental Sciences, and Humanities and Management Sciences. Researchers at units such as the Centre for Community, Environmental and Industrial Development tackle important regional issues. The CUT has started training programmes in artificial intelligence, 3D cloud computing and The University of the Free State has a new chancellor. In 2020 Professor Bonang Francis Mohale became the university’s eighth chancellor but the official inauguration took place in 2021. Professor Mohale is the President of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), Professor of Practice at the Johannesburg Business School’s College of Business and Economics and Chairman of both the Bidvest Group Limited and SBV Services. In his inaugural address, Professor Mohale stressed the importance of empowering universities to become “inclusive centres of excellence”. He noted how this could be done: • to be awake to persistent inequalities and how these continue to shape a sense of belonging, ownership, identity, access, language, symbols, attitudes and expectations • to nurture young people to come out of these institutions not only skills, but with a sense of social justice, critical thinking and curiosity FREE STATE BUSINESS 2023 38
• to conceptualise ethical frameworks that will guide societal engagement with universities • to promote public ownership of higher education institutions, where the public recognise their role as both beneficiaries and stakeholders • to develop a social justice approach to higher education, where universities propel democratic engagement and advocate for academic freedom. As part of the celebration, Dr Sipho Pityana, a former BUSA president, was awarded an honorary doctorate by UFS. The University of the Free State has 158 researchers rated by the National Research Foundation (NRF), two A-rated scientists and five tier-one SARChi research chairs. The university has 18 international research partnerships and produces an average of 240 postgraduate research degrees every year. Training AgriFree State and the provincial government cooperated in 2021/22 to provide work experience opportunities to 117 unemployed graduates. Within the provincial government, 50 officials are working towards a National Diploma in Public Administration. Another 149 unemployed young people in three locations completed the Public Administration Learnership Programme. Several Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) are involved in offering training in the Free State. merSETA (Manufacturing, Engineering and Related) provided R42.1-million to enable the provincial government to offer skills training to 650 young people. A total of 2 572 unemployed young people have benefited from skills development programmes supported by various SETAs. The NQF 5 Building Inspectorate Programme offered by the LGSETA (Local Government) and the CUT will benefit 1 000 TVET college graduates. Furthermore, the CUT and National Home Builders Registration Council will train 695 people at the NQF 7 Level to increase the number of available trainers. These training programmes are supported by placements with government departments and with private businesses: unemployed graduates are supported by the province on stints at companies and the programmes can include graduate internships, learnerships, short-skills programmes and workintegrated learning methods. The province’s road-building unit ONLINE RESOURCES Central University of Technology: www.cut.ac.za Flavius Mareka TVET College: www.flaviusmareka.net Free State Department of Education: www.education.fs.gov.za University of the Free State: www.ufs.ac.za The Central University of Technology team was crowned Enactus National Champions for 2022 with a community farming project in Thaba Nchu. has linked up with TVET college graduates to provide specific work training in that field. Two-hundred tertiary bursaries will be provided by the provincial government in the 2022/23 financial year. Thus far, the provincial bursary programme has benefitted 749 students at South African institutions and a further 353 who studied abroad, at cost of R248-million. A national policy of promoting training in critical trades has been adopted. Two of the three campuses of Flavius Mareka TVET College are designated Centres of Specialisation, for electrical work at Sasolburg and plumbing at Kroonstad. The Mphohadi campus of the college is also in Kroonstad. The Free State has about 14 000 students at four Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges, taught by 400 lecturers. All of the colleges have multiple sites. Maluti TVET College in Phuthaditjhaba, for example, offers classes at eight sites. Motheo TVET College operates in Bloemfontein and Thaba Nchu, while Goldfields TVET College is headquartered in Welkom with some classes offered in Thabong and a satellite campus at Virginia (Meloding). ■ 39 FREE STATE BUSINESS 2023
