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Institutional Overview.

The University of the Free State delivers quality teaching and learning through seven faculties and one business school, underpinned by highly qualified staff who prepare globally competitive graduates with real-world impact.

Institutional profile

Quality teaching and learning for globally competitive graduates

The UFS has seven faculties delivering top-quality programmes, driven by dedicated and highly qualified staff committed to making a real-world impact in their fields.

Faculties
0
Business School
0
Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
Faculty of The Humanities
Faculty of Theology and Religion
UFS Business School

Students per campus

Bloemfontein Campus
0 %
Qwaqwa Campus
0 %
South Campus
0 %

Students:

Undergraduate students
0 %
Postgraduate students
0 %
International students
0

Graduate output and professional excellence

Total number of graduates
0
Pass rate of Initial Test of Competence (ITC) of SA Institute of Chartered Accountants at the UFS:
0 %

2024 graduates

Doctoral graduates
0
Honours graduates
0
Master’s graduates
0
Postgraduate diploma graduates
0
Undergraduate graduates
0

Staff

Total research and instructional staff
0
Permanent staff members
0 %
Female
Research and instructional staff
0
Permanent staff members
0
Male
Research and instructional staff
0
Permanent staff members
0

Research capacity and capabilities

The UFS aspires to be a research-led institution, emphasising the parity between research, teaching, and learning for impact.

NRF-rated researchers
0
Postdoctoral research fellows
0
Increase in research output units from 2020 to 2024
0 %
Research output units generated from publications
0
Research output units produced per academic
0

University rankings

The World University Rankings

0

-

among 14 South African universities
0 th

Global engagement and international presence

Formal, high-quality and productive collaborations with universities and institutions globally
0

Research focus areas

Water and water quality:

Health and well-being:

New scientific and industrial challenges:

Social justice and the removal of inequalities:

Food security and land reform:

Local and regional socio-economic development:

Premier research groups and specialist centres

Research chairs:

  • SANRAL Research Chair in Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Technology Education
  • SARChI Research Chair in City-Region Economies
  • SARChI Research Chair in Disease Resistance and Quality in Field Crops
  • SARChI Research Chair in Higher Education and Human Development
  • SARChI Research Chair in Pathogenic Yeasts
  • SARChI Research Chair in Solid State Luminescent and Advanced Materials
  • SARChI Research Chair in Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Pathogens
  • African Medicines Innovations and Technologies Development

Research chairs established in 2024 in collaboration between Agricultural Research Council (ARC), Department of Agriculture (DoA) and the University of the Free State (UFS):

  • Climate Change Impacts and Mitigation in Agriculture
  • Innovative Agro-Processing for Climate-Smart Food Systems
  • Agriculture Risk Financing
  • Sustainable Livestock Production
  • Impact assessment of Climate-Smart Interventions
  • Communication for Innovation
  • Breeding of Climate-Resilient Vegetables and Grains

Research centres, groups and units:

  • Afromontane Research Unit
  • Centre for Sustainable Agriculture
  • Free State Indigenous Knowledge Systems Documentation Centre (IKSDC)
  • Centre for Environmental Management (CEM)
  • Centre for Development Support (CDS)
  • Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS)
  • Centre for Health Systems Research & Development (CHSR&D)
  • Free State Centre for Human Rights (FSCHR)
  • Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Development and Extension (CENSARDE) / Centre for Sustainable Agriculture
  • Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Futures (ICDF)
  • Digital Scholarship Centre (DSC)
  • Free State Indigenous Knowledge Systems Documentation Centre (IKSDC)
  • Centre for Business Dynamics (UFS Business School, Executive Education Unit)
  • Centre for Global Change (CGC)
  • Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice
  • Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment (ULFE)
  • Teaching Practice Unit (Faculty of Education)
  • Department of Pharmacology – African Medicines Innovations and Technologies Development (AMITD) Platform
  • Cactus Pear Research

Research laboratories and specialist centres:

  • Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory
  • Centre for Microscopy
  • Clinical Simulation and Skills Unit
  • Ecotoxicology Lab
  • Johannes Stegmann and Centenary Art Galleries
  • Merensky Group for Aerial Geological Image Classification (MAGIC) Lab
  • New Generation Sequencing Unit
  • Odeion School of Music
  • Roodt Crystallographic Laboratory
  • Sensory Laboratory
  • South African Doping Control Laboratory
  • South African National Control Laboratory for Biological Products (SANCLBP)
  • UFS Law Clinic