About University of the Free State
The University of the Free State is a public university in Bloemfontein which was founded in 1904.
It was founded as English-only and began to offer its first classes in Afrikaans in 1911. From 1948 was Afrikaans-only and in 1993 adopted a Parallel Language policy. It declared English its main language in 2016 and in 2021 formed the academy of multingualism, promoting in particular Sesotho, Afrikaans and isiZulu.
Students can study at the faculties of health science, law, education, theology and religion, humanities, economics and management science.
The undergraduate microscope laboratory is the largest in Africa and the robotic telescope at the observatory is one of only seven of its type.
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Explore rankings data for University of the Free State
All ranked institutions have an overall score and 4 pillar scores. However for each pillar, only institutions ranked in the top 500 overall or the top 500 in this pillar have a publicly visible score
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Key statistics
- 63 : 37Student Ratio of Females to Males(1)
- 25%Proportion of ISR Publication(1)
- 2%Percentage of International Students(1)
- 35.6No. of students per staff(1)
- 33,247Number of FTE Students(1)
Based on data collected for the (1) 2024 World University Rankings
Subjects taught at University of the Free State
Arts & humanities
- History, Philosophy & Theology
- Languages, Literature & Linguistics
- Architecture
- Art, Performing Arts & Design
Clinical, pre-clinical & health
- Medicine & Dentistry
- Other Health
Law
- Law
Social sciences
- Sociology
- Politics & International Studies (incl Development Studies)
- Communication & Media Studies
- Geography
Psychology
- Psychology
Computer science
- Computer Science
Life sciences
- Biological Sciences
- Agriculture & Forestry
- Sport Science
Engineering & technology
- Chemical Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- General Engineering
- Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
- Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Business & economics
- Business & Management
- Accounting & Finance
- Economics & Econometrics
Physical sciences
- Physics & Astronomy
- Mathematics & Statistics
- Chemistry
- Geology, Environmental, Earth & Marine Sciences
Education
- Education
