Vol 1 - Support Services Ufs Ac Za - University of the Free State

It is also a priority to make funds available forresearch with special consideration for designatedgroups. With an eye on the opti mali sation ofresearch, large amounts of money were allocated in2006 and 2007 for research assistance to enablesenior researchers in particular to optimally utilisetheir time for research.Prof Gerhardt de Klerk (Dean: Faculty of the Humanities) andProf Louise Cilliers (Department of English and ClassicalLanguages, and Chairperson of the Faculty ResearchCommittee).The Faculty of the Humanities strives tomaintain a dynamic research culture. Strategicresearch priorities within the Faculty are thepromotion of research excellence through thecontinuous monitoring of the quality of its outputsand the development of young, inexperiencedresearch ers through mentorship and with the assistanceof senior researchers.Research deliberations are presented regularlywithin the Faculty to discuss issues such as thequality assurance of research. Besides the mentorshipsystem to develop upcoming researchers, allresearch proposals from Master‘s and Doctoralstudents are submitted to a committee for evaluationand recommendations before these studiescommence. This prevents students discover ing thattheir topics are not viable at a later stage. TheFaculty also uses its own funds to arrange de velopmentopportunities for inexperienced research ersand to expose junior academic staff members tointernational conferences and contacts. Teamresearch is also promoted through the involvementof various colleagues in the Strategic AcademicCluster Trans forma tion in Highly Diverse Societies.A promising sign indicating that new researchersare improving at the University is the dramaticincrease in participants in the Thutuka programme– from five in 2003 to 44 in 2007. In comparison,the number of National Research Foundation-ratedaca demics has remained relatively constant since2005. The latest additions from the Faculty of theHumanities are Prof Heidi Hudson of the Departmentof Political Science with a C1 rating; Prof JackieNaudé from the Department of Afroasiatic Studies,Sign Language and Language Practice with a C294