Prof Emmanuel Mfanafuthi Mgqwashu, the director of the Centre for Higher Education Professional Development at the North-West University (NWU), recently delivered his inaugural lecture on the Potchefstroom Campus.

The topic of his lecture was “A timely question: How can we not talk about becoming a professor in the context of decolonising higher education?”

During this lecture, Prof Mgqwashu drew from his 26 years of experience in the academia and shared critical reflections on his journey to becoming a professor.

North-West University academic Dr Ankit Katrodia’s paper – titled “Generation Y’s perception towards and actual usage of African language radio Stations in South Africa” – recently earned him the Best Paper Award at the 3rd International Conference on Leveraging Industry 5.0: Sustainability, Innovation and Disruption that took place in Mumbai, India.

In the paper, co-authored by Dr Katrodia and his master’s student, Nkosinathi Ntuli, Dr Katrodia said that radio broadcasting is the most consumed form of broadcast media in the world.

The North-West University (NWU) Soccer Institute has secured a spot in the North West ABC Motsepe League Provincial playoffs and will be facing well-known opponent Orbit College FC.

The two teams will be facing each other in the provincial playoffs for the second year. In the 2022 playoffs, the NWU won the game, and they are geared to be crowned North West ABC Motsepe league champions for 2023 too.

Seipati Poopedi, a master’s student at the North-West University (NWU), recently participated in the Wetskills Water Challenge in Cape Town and her team walked away with the spoils.

Her team members were Tariro Marekwa, an MSc student from the University of Cape Town, Dr Fulya Kandamir from Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Climate Change in Turkey, Zanele Lulane of the Joint River Basin Authorities Project Board in Eswatini, and Nomandla Nxusa from Rand Water South Africa.

The Debating Union on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Mahikeng Campus took part in the annual Jozi Rumble Tournament, hosted by the University of Witwatersrand from 7 to 9 April 2023.

The Jozi Rumble is a significant part of African debating history. The tournament explores the developmental aspects of African debating, and promote a culture of excellence. This year marked the 11th rendition of the tournament.

The Mahikeng Campus was represented by team members Abel Kayeye and Orefile Babeile and adjudicator Sandile Mbizeni.

The North-West University’s (NWU’s) Prof Jan de Kock is ready to help make a difference in helping to solve South Africa’s current energy crisis.

He was inaugurated as president of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) on 23 March 2023.

During the event Prof de Kock delivered his inaugural address titled “Load-shedding – can South Africa be saved?”.

He said that it is a great honour to serve the electrical engineering fraternity as president of the SAIEE.

Prof Ewelina Niemczyk, Dr Jan Khumalo, and Matthews Makunye recently organised two research capacity building workshops for academics in the North-West University’s (NWU’s) School of Professional Studies in Education.

Designed with the support of the school director, Prof Kobus Mentz, the two workshops were aimed at improving the quality and impact of the research conducted within the school at the Mahikeng Campus.

During the workshops, researchers were empowered with the necessary knowledge, competencies, tools, and resources to increase research productivity.

Leaf blight in maize poses a threat to food security but, although it has complex causes, it can be effectively managed. This is one of the findings of a group of North-West University (NWU) researchers who have been investigating this plant disease at the university’s Molelwane farm in Mahikeng.

Their research shows that the disease defies many control measures because it is caused by multiple organisms, which in most cases interact to cause the leaf blight disease.

Local municipalities in North West have not achieved clean audit reports due to the mismanagement of financial resources. This is according to a research study conducted by Dr Auchalie Mothupi in his PhD studies at the North-West University (NWU).

The title of Dr Mothupi’s thesis was “Developing an accountability framework to enhance management of local municipal finance in the North West Province”.

The benefits from widespread and equitable access to information and communications technologies (ICTs) in South Africa are touted as having the potential to change the course and trajectory of this country for the better.

Researchers at the North-West University (NWU) share this view and are adamant that schools can serve as a base from which to address the growing digital divide, particularly between well-resourced and impoverished schools.