Bursaries and students support services
Vision
Provide a suite of support services to assist talented students to attain their degrees in the prescribed time frame and to a standard that ensures access to the workplace. This support includes financial and psycho-social support.
Aims
- Ensure that academically talented students have the financial means to access quality higher education
- Provide academic support to enhance students’ chances of success in their studies
- Provide psycho-social services to students who might require them during their studies
Description
Located in a rural province, the UFS today serves 40 000 students on three campuses through seven faculties. About 80% are undergraduates. The UFS also has students enrolled at Masters and Doctoral levels, as well as an established distance education system.
About 68% of our students are black. Of the students who receive bursaries 77% are black. Most come from one of the poorest provinces, the Free State, which has high levels of unemployment. Almost half of UFS students require financial aid.
Many of our students are products of a dysfunctional secondary school system and are first generation university students. Support services to guide them through their studies are critical in ensuring their success. These initiatives fall under three categories: academic support, psycho-social support offered by the central Student Affairs administration and faculty-specific support. This support is focused on maximising students’ success by integrating psycho-social and academic support.
Proposal
We invite partners who have an interest in developing a tertiary education sector that will provide highly skilled, qualified candidates for the workplace to contribute towards the UFS Bursary Fund. Such contributions can be linked to an organisation’s area of interest, and can attract tax benefits and BBBEE certification.
Budget
The cost of supporting an individual student averages R100 000 per student per annum. This covers tuition fees, books, accommodation, meals and transport. Psychosocial and academic support is included as part of the bursary support programme.