As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt and affect our lives in the most unprecedented and unpredictable ways, the North-West University has launched the NWU Covid-19 Response Fund.

“The objectives of the fund are to support the students with laptops/devices; and offer support to staff, students and the communities around our campuses with necessary equipment and other needs,” says NWU vice-chancellor Prof Dan Kgwadi.

The Covid-19 campaign launch was preceded by a survey conducted among students which found that many of them do not have the necessary devices, network connectivity and/or electricity.

“We have budgeted about R30 million (for data and devices) to support remote teaching and learning, which will not be sufficient," added Prof Kgwadi.

As a result, a humble request is made to the wider NWU stakeholders’ community to contribute to the Response Fund by visiting http://www.nwu.ac.za/covid-19-donations to donate.  Stakeholders are also welcome to donate laptops and tablets they no longer use.

It is crucial that we continue with academic activities in order to complete the semester and the academic year. This campaign, according to Prof Dan, is thus underpinned by and is in line with the NWU’s value of “an ethic of care” in all its endeavours.