MANGAUNG is home to the Free State academic health complex. Based at the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein and including the Universitas and Pelonomi Hospitals and the Free State Psychiatric Complex, this academic health complex has built up an enviable reputation.

As a centre of excellence, the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS is fully committed to the welfare of the community through teaching, research and comprehensive health care at both a national and an international level. This faculty enjoys high esteem – nationally and internationally – for the training of health workers (doctors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, optometrists, dieticians or nurses), and for the exceptional research conducted in the faculty. Apart from having access to state-of-the-art technology, the quality of training provided by this institution draws students from all over South Africa. Research conducted enjoys international recognition, while this faculty is also world renowned for being at the forefront of developments, significant discoveries and breakthroughs in the medical and health care environment. As a result, staff members of this facility are on a regular basis delivering papers at medical conferences world-wide.

The South African Doping Control Laboratory at the faculty’s Department of Pharmacology is officially listed by the International Olympic Committee’s Medical Commission to conduct analytical procedures for the detection of all chemical substances banned in sport. This facility also played a vital role in the South Africa’s success in bidding for the Soccer World Cup event in 2010. The UFS also has its own AIDS Centre. Additionally, the Central University of Technology houses schools for health, biomedical and clinical technology, radiography and somatology.