Prof runs 1 100 laps to help alleviate hunger

On the morning of 24 April, Prof Dewald van Niekerk, laced up his running shoes and started running around his house in Potchefstroom. The time was 10:30. When he finally stopped to unlace his shoes, twenty-four hours and ten minutes later, he’d circled his house 1 100 times to clock a distance of 110km.

Dewald, together with…

New NWU voice for popular radio programme

The North-West University has for years been an informative and entertaining presence on the very popular weekly environmental radio programme, Omgewingspraatjies. This tradition continues with a new expert following in the footsteps of his NWU colleagues.

Ruhann Steyn, a researcher and lecturer who is currently also busy with his…

NWU hopes to stem CORONA’s surge

COVID-19. A denomination for a world epidemic that will live in infamy. In 1918 one-third of the world’s population became infected with a virus we now call the Spanish Flu. Millions died. More suffered. Endless story of those fateful years will forever be told.  

COVID-19 is the newest iteration of an age-old foe that was then -…

Teaching and learning go online as NWU takes education to people

The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally disrupted teaching-learning activities in South Africa and across the globe. It also challenges how we think about education and assessment, in general.

“Disruptions are opportunities to reflect on assumptions made about teaching, learning and learners,” says Prof Robert Balfour, the North-…

NWU and Makwassie Spruit Enterprises sign MOU

With the youth unemployment rate in South Africa reaching a record time high, the North-West University (NWU) is pulling out all the stops to ensure that its students are employable after attaining their qualifications.

During 2019, 20 BSc Agriculture students spent numerous hours at Makwassie Spruit Enterprises, a large farming…

NWU alumnus’ project impresses at Royal Academy of Engineering

North-West University (NWU) Alumnus Sydwell Sihlangu recently attended the Leaders in Innovation Fellowship training programme on technology commercialisation from 18 January to 1 February 2020 at the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom.

This academy brings together the most successful and talented engineers from across…

BRICS sponsors NWU visit to study Russian coal technology

Water is a scarce commodity in drought-stricken South Africa. One area where water can be saved is in the processing of coal, which traditionally uses large amounts of water.

Keeping this in mind, two engineers from the North-West University’s (NWU) School of Chemical and Minerals Engineering visited Siberia last year with the aim…

What's with the all the flies and mosquitoes?

Over the past few months, many South Africans have wondered why there is an excessive amount of mosquitoes and flies in their homes.

Prof Johnnie Van den Berg, a professor at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Unit for Environmental Sciences, explains where all the flies and mosquitoes are coming from.

He says the drastic…

NWU student brings hope to community cattle farmers

A North-West University (NWU) PhD student has spent the last six years studying how the occurrence of reproductive conditions in cows can be prevented, thereby improving the fortunes of communal cattle farmers.

Keitiretse Molefe will graduate at the campus in Mahikeng in April 2020, and feels blessed to have been part of the research…

New-style star accretion bursts dazzle astronomers at NWU and around the world

The meaning of the term “accretion burst” is expanding. In a rare glimpse at how high-mass stars grow even larger, an astronomer from the North-West University (NWU) has been part of a 15-country research team that has observed star bursts – or growth spurts – previously unknown to humankind.

“It is a privilege to be at the cutting…