Dr Miranda Mgijima, director for internationalisation on the Mahikeng Campus of the North-West University (NWU) recently played host to Mr Richard Ndaba from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) seeking to foster good working relations with the campus.
Mr Ndaba, director for African and Middle Eastern international relations at the DHET, met with various stakeholders on campus, including the vice-chancellor, Prof Dan Kgwadi, to discuss policy perspectives, the approach to internationalising higher education institutions, as well as sharing information on possible strategies for internationalisation. During his two-day visit, Mr Ndaba also held discussions with the Campus Student Representative Council member responsible for international students together with four students from different countries.
In his discussions, Mr Ndaba highlighted that the main objectives of his department are, among others, to promote collaboration in education and training and leverage resources internationally in order to support quality improvements for a globally competitive higher education and training system. He also emphasised the importance of strengthening the South-South and North-South cooperation in education and training in order to advance South Africa's skills base.
“Internationalisation is core to the university strategy and plays a pivotal role in attracting diversity to the institution which in turn bolsters our support programmes,” said Prof Kgwadi.
“Through sustainable memoranda of understanding, academics from different countries in various disciplines are able to work together and link their fields of expertise to teaching and research activities, co-produce and co-publish research articles and perform co-supervisory functions which will ultimately benefit students and produce quality research needed in any developing economy,” he added.
Mr Richard Ndaba is from the DHET and Dr Miranda Mgijima is the director for internationalisation on the Mahikeng Campus of the North-West University (NWU).