By Nolwazi Xulu

Mapule Sechogo, a former North-West University student and first-time entrant in the National Teachers Awards recently defied the odds when she won the Excellence in Primary School Teaching category at the awards ceremony held at the Naledi Local Education Office of the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality.

“It was my first time participating in the prestigious National Teachers Awards, and to my delight, I was announced top performer in this category,” she said.

The North-West University’s (NWU’s) Student Life division will be hosting an African Spirituality workshop on 29 July 2023 at its Mahikeng Campus.

Baba Ngwemabala, also known as Thandiwe Prudence Magagula, will be the main speaker.

The purpose of the event is to look into the different dynamics for understanding African spirituality within tertiary education.

Student and organiser of the workshop Sandile Mbizeni says he believes this will be contribute towards transformation at the university.

Prof Jean-Marie Kileshye Onema, executive manager for SADC WaterNet and extraordinary professor at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, has been elected the secretary-general of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS).

Prof Onema's election, which took place during the 28th International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics in Berlin, Germany, marks a momentous occasion in the history of IAHS. He is the first African to hold this significant position since the association's inception 101 years ago.

The North-West University’s (NWU’s) Indigenous Language Media in Africa (ILMA) research entity will be hosting Prof Toyin Omoyeni Falola, the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas in the United States.

This renowned scholar will present a series of seminars and a public lecture on the NWU’s Mahikeng Campus.

The North-West University’s (NWU's) Safety, Health and Environment department recently organised a comprehensive two-day training workshop to enhance workplace safety and promote a culture of health and wellbeing.

The workshop’s aim was to equip permanent employees with the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge to qualify as safety, health and environment representatives (SHE reps).

According to safety coordinator Abea Motaung the training covered various aspects of the role and responsibilities of a SHE rep.

North-West University (NWU) academic Prof Oladapo Aremu recently received the Economic Botany Excellence Award (EBEA) at the joint conference of the Society for Economic Botany (SEB) and the Society of Ethnobiology at Emory University Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

The EBEA – also called the Mid-Career Excellence Award – is made annually to an individual whose early career has substantially advanced economic botany or ethnobotany by teaching, publishing, or practical work.

Retired professor Jan Buscop donated 4 paintings to NWU and these artworks will be hosted in the library.

More about retired professor Jan Buscop

Prof Buscop was born in the Netherlands and emigrated in 1978 to South Africa. He completed his PhD at UNIBO and was appointed as senior lecturer in 1993 and retired in 2019. Currently he specialised in estate, tax and retirement planning and assisting many university colleagues with their retirement planning.

By Menziwa Msibi

Academics from the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education (DBE), recently participated in an Entrepreneurial Learning Workshop and Employability Task Team (EEETT).

The purpose of the workshop was to contribute to a shared understanding of what entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial learning is about. It also aimed to help educators think about how they can best prepare learners for the requirements of the DBE’s Entrepreneurship in Schools sector plan.

North-West University PhD candidate Ntokozo Happy Msiza is one of only four young people that have been selected to represent South Africa at an agricultural summer school at the University of São Paulo in Brazil.

In a 4IR world, the North-West University (NWU) is ensuring that learners at disadvantaged schools are not left behind and have the tools and knowledge to meet the challenges of the ever-changing world of work.

To this end, the Faculty of Education at the NWU’s Mahikeng Campus has initiated a community project, “A service-learning project for schools’ pedagogical integration of ICTs”.