Leaders in student success strategies

• National Leader in Academic Advising

Through its Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), the UFS plays a leading role in academic advising in South Africa, developing this vital field in 14 higher education institutions as part of a University Capacity Development collaborative grant from the Department of Higher Education and Training. 

Specialist academic advisers in CTL provide a wide range of support to students – from subject and curriculum choices to study skills coaching – ensuring the critical alignment between academic journeys and career plans. Around a third of the total UFS student population benefit from various academic advising initiatives annually. 

• Unique First-Year Experience Programmes

Advancing from school to higher education remains one of the most challenging transitions in a young person’s life. To help them cope, the UFS Success Skills (UFSS) module is offered to first-year students from all faculties, providing them with vital support, information, and strategies. In addition to providing students with academic success skills and digital competencies, the module also develops entrepreneurship and employability from early on. 

• Excellent Tutorial Programme

The highly effective Academic Student Excellence Tutorial Programme (A_STEP) offers regular peer-facilitated group tutorials, integrating content with learning skills and strategies. The UFS employs on average 400 tutors per year, providing support to around 13 000 students. Tutors not only get a chance to earn while they learn, but also develop critical employability and collaboration skills. 

• Peer Mentoring Initiatives

Further capitalising on the immense value contained in peer learning and teaching, the UFS has a sophisticated Peer Mentoring Programme, where senior students are equipped with competencies and knowledge to guide junior students through academic and life skills challenges.  

• Developing Critical Literacies

Many aspirant students arrive on higher education campuses with gaps in core writing and language skills. The UFS Critical Academic Literacies (CAL) module teaches specialised reading, writing, and critical thinking practices through the medium of English.

The Write Site academic writing consultation service meets students’ subject-specific writing needs in the form of online or face-to-face workshops and one-on-one feedback, covering all aspects of written assignment requirements.

• Developing Digital Skills and Competencies

Digital competency has become essential in the modern-day workplace. It is also a vital requirement for negotiating the higher education environment. As part of the Digitally Enhanced Student Success and Employability Programme (DESSEP) – a collaboration with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation – the UFS integrated 14 global digital skills frameworks into an innovative graduate attribute: Digital Skills and Competencies. This attribute helps students to develop information and communication technology proficiency, digital citizenship, digital creation skills, as well as information, data, and media literacy. 

• Utilising Advanced Data Analytics for Student Support

The UFS is a beneficiary of the esteemed Kresge Foundation, sponsor of the Siyaphumelela project, which harnesses data analytics to promote student success. The university is progressively enhancing its ability to use advanced data analytics to keep track of student performance, enabling it to proactively reach out to those who need assistance. 

• Student Counselling and Development

In response to the prolific mental health challenges that confront our students, the UFS provides professional individual psychological counselling as well as group therapy and workshops. 

• Enhancing Employability

The UFS has identified a set of graduate attributes – proven to adequately prepare students for local and global workplaces. These attributes have been mapped across more than 1 000 undergraduate modules, ensuring that young jobseekers are highly employable once they have obtained their UFS qualifications.

• Progressive Career Focus

Enhanced investment and digital capabilities have enabled the UFS to increase the capacity of its Career Services eightfold. This has in turn led to the development of a Career Hub platform where thousands of job opportunities are advertised. The UFS regularly hosts successful corporate events, building a strong relationship with various employers.

• Comprehensive Support Ecosystem

Ensuring that students make effective use of all these support initiatives, the UFS has built a comprehensive student support environment – Graduate Positioning Support (GPS) – which is unequalled in South Africa. GPS@UFS is an easily accessible one-stop destination that puts students in touch with a relevant support services.

• Innovative Food Security Projects

For students to excel academically, the university acknowledges that it is often necessary to take care of their very basic needs first. The No Student Hungry Bursary Programme ensures that the most vulnerable students are provided with healthy food options so that they can successfully complete their studies. This initiative is complemented by a collaborative Community Gardens and Food Initiative, whereby 40 vegetable gardens have been established, feeding hundreds of students on a weekly basis.

• Academy for Multilingualism – developing innovative multilingual pedagogies in pursuit of social justice.
• Afromontane Research Unit – promoting comprehensive international research aimed at uplifting vulnerable mountain communities.
• Boyden Observatory and Naval Hill Planetarium – displaying and communicating South Africa’s astronomical heritage.
• Centre for Gender and Africa Studies – providing an inter-faculty approach to understanding Africa and gender issues.
• Centre for Microscopy – implementing cutting-edge electron microscopy equipment for globally competitive research.
• Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) – advancing evidence-based innovation that promotes excellence in learning and teaching for student access with success.
• Clinical Simulation and Skills Unit – enhancing the education and training of medical and nursing students, as well as the safety of patients, by implementing the very latest simulation technology.
• FARMOVS – conducting world-class clinical research for renowned international clients in the pharmaceutical industry for the past 50 years.
• Free State Centre for Human Rights – drawing together multidisciplinary academics, practitioners, and activists to provide excellence in human rights studies, and houses the Bram Fischer Postgraduate Scholarship in Law.
• Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Futures – providing a unique collaborative, co-creative space, where role players from different sectors can drive the digital future responsibly and critically for the benefit of society,
• International Studies Group – accessing prestigious international research opportunities for high-calibre postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows from across the world.
• Institute for Groundwater Studies – leading the field in sustainable management of groundwater resources in Africa.
• Merensky Group for Aerial Geological Image Classification (MAGIC) Laboratory – developing progressive drone-based geological imaging in South Africa.
• National Control Laboratory for Biological Products – performing vaccine testing for the World Health Organisation.
• Next Generation Sequencing Unit – providing impactful research within the field of genomics sequencing.
• Robert WM Frater Cardiovascular Research Centre – leading cardiovascular research in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Science Education Centre – driving professional development for teachers, learner support, and parent empowerment.
• South African Doping Control Laboratory – providing international testing. against doping in sport, as the only WADA-accredited laboratory in Africa.
• UFS Law Clinic – merging impactful pro bono litigation with practical student training, as one of only a handful of university law clinics in South Africa.