Fanie Roos, a lecturer in sport management, recently became the first North-West University (NWU) representative to address the prestigious Professional Golfers Association of South Africa (PGA-SA).

It was a night of high-fashion and festivity, aptly befitting of the celebrated group of female entrepreneurs ready to impact the world of work. The 2018 Gala Awards of the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Enterprising Women Programme saw 28 women graduating from the programme.

Imagine the interesting discussions around the breakfast table when the husband studies role of European Union politics in Sweden and his wife gender equality in higher education.

Global research has shown that only half of enrolled master’s and PhD students actually finish their studies. Around 40% of the same group battle with mental illness such as depression and anxiety. Coincidence? Laura Weiss thinks not.

On a dusty street of a village in the North West Province a group of 12-year-olds are cheering each other on as they play kgati, an indigenous game using a skipping rope. As the game intensifies one of them hears her grandmother shouting from the kitchen, requesting her to go to their ward counsellor’s house and ask if social grants will be paid the following day.

Meet Faith Sibiya and Carl Thomson. They are two typical varsity students. Faith is an eccentric foot-dragger and always finds an excuse to do that really important assignment… tomorrow. Carl, on the other hand, is an inattentive fusspot. In less than six months’ time, both of them have to set foot in the world of work.

Five years since the inception of the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Bridging The Mathematical Gap learning programme, the demand for participation in the programme has grown by leaps and bounds.

The terms ‘alumna’ or ‘alumnus’ represent much more than mere titles. Not only is it part of your academic past, but also your professional future. In short: it signifies a lifetime relationship with your alma mater – and in your case, the North-West University (NWU).

If the streets of Orange Farm could talk, it would tell of all the tears that had fallen on its red dirt: tears of hopelessness and poverty.

“My social worker is my last hope. My social worker will help me get out of a life of abuse.” O, how that last hope would disappear if the social worker in question could not be trusted to do the right thing.