Potchefstroom Campus News
Researchers demonstrate that conservation and development can go hand in hand
While cities in Africa expand rapidly and the pressure for economic growth is increasing, the protected areas on the continent face a complex challenge: how to conserve nature and empower people.
At the North-West University (NWU) the Protected Areas Research Group, led by Prof. Reece Alberts, Prof. François Retief, Prof. Claudine Roos and Prof. Dirk Cilliers, is working to find exactly that balance.
“Conservation areas are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation,” says Prof. Alberts. “They are essential to prevent the loss in biodiversity. Yet, we have to admit that… Read more
Well-being, performance and the challenges of modern life
Is there really a problem?
The benefits of exercise, a healthy diet and a balanced lifestyle are undisputed in modern life, and the positive impact these have on well-being and performance is no secret.
Yet obesity and weight problems have reached epidemic proportions globally. According to the World Health…
Lockdown offers challenges to autists
“The current coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have disrupted routines unexpectedly and overwhelmingly. This has caused concern across the world about the impact on the mental health of not only adults, but also of children.”
Hanlie Degenaar, a senior speech-language therapist at the Institute of Psychology and…
The new (unfamiliar) world of work
The world of work after the Covid-19 pandemic will differ from the one we are used to. This is the opinion of Prof Bennie Linde, a professor in labour relations at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) School for Industrial Psychology and Human Resource Management in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.
Prof Linde predicts…
Make your CV stand out
Since the lockdown commenced, a number of businesses have had to close indefinitely, leaving thousands of South Africans unemployed. With so many people in the job market, jobseekers have to find new ways to stand out from the crowd.
Dr Peet Roos, Ms Suzanne de Swart and Mr Mphinyana Nemasitoni from the Career Centre at the North-…
Face masks for a great cause
North-West University (NWU) alumnus Ofentse Rabaji has truly proven how one man’s waste can be another man’s treasure.
The 27-year-old who holds a master’s degree in environmental management, has been making face masks for the less fortunate, by using scrap cotton fabric.
Ofentse also sells these masks to members of the…
The men who shaped the NWU’s Varsity Cup teams
A rugby fraternity is a band of like-minded brothers, a group of men and women who believe that no inch should be yielded in pursuit of winning the game. There are the custodians of the game, the administrators and the various specialists employed to ensure that this goal is reached.
However, none are more in the spotlight than the…
Further cut in interest rates is another valuable mitigating step
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut the repo rate by another 50 basis points on 21 May. Prof Raymond Parsons, well-known economist and academic from the NWU Business School, says this underscores the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) resolve to provide the necessary monetary support in light of the economic impact of the prolonged…
This is why you have been struggling to sleep
If you log on to any social media platform in the early hours of the morning you are likely to find a lot of people online. Since the country went into lockdown due to Covid-19 a few weeks ago, South Africans have been struggling to fall asleep.
Prof Pieter Kruger, a consultant clinical psychologist and director of the NWU’s Centre…
Remembering Prof Claassen
He strode the red, rich earth of the old Western Transvaal like a colossus, this enigma of a man. Hard and uncompromising, dedicated to the extreme. For decades his name was known in rugby circles the world over as a Goliath of the game.
And I got to wear his blazer once.
In the amateur days of the sport – when “bricklayer…
Covid-19, the virus of uncertainty: the dominoes are falling one by one in the economy
The Covid-19 virus is causing unprecedented uncertainty on a global scale. An economist from the North-West University (NWU) says the impact of the pandemic is expected to be greater than that of the Spanish flu of a century ago.
According to Prof Danie Meyer, a development economist and director of the TRADE research focus area at…