What do you get when someone refuses to limit herself to just one role in sport? In Elsunet du Plessis’ case, you get a player, sport scientist, lecturer, sport manager and coach who has now added another national role to her growing list of achievements.
She has been appointed as the South African under-19 caretaker assistant coach for the upcoming Region 5 Games, which will take place in Mozambique from 4 to 13 December 2026.
Community engagement remains a core pillar of the mission of the North-West University (NWU) to build stronger, more resilient communities. This year’s Community Engagement Showcase supported this mission by aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda for 2063.
While the communication profession is being remade in real time, the qualifications meant to prepare students for it are not keeping up.
Opinion piece by Prof. Lida Holtzhausen, director of the School of Communication
The NWU Eagles have started their journey to defend the Varsity Netball crown with two wins from two matches, combining a dominant opening performance with a one-goal test of nerve against UP-Tuks.
The defending champions opened their 2026 Varsity Netball campaign with a 74–31 victory over Madibaz on Sunday, 23 August, before edging UP-Tuks 60–59 in Round 2 on Monday, 24 August. Both matches were played at the Maties Coetzenburg Indoor Centre in Stellenbosch.
The opening weekend marked the first steps in the bid by the NWU to retain the title they won in 2025.
Research from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the North-West University (NWU) has been selected as an Editor's Choice article by the international journal Children.
Rooibos has long helped to place South Africa on the international tourism map. Now, the country’s distinctive indigenous plant is preparing to leave the planet.
In October 2026, rooibos seeds are scheduled to travel to the International Space Station, where they will be exposed to microgravity and cosmic radiation before returning to Earth. Scientists will compare them with control seeds to determine how the conditions affected their germination and growth.
Not since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq reshaped global security after 2001 or, more significantly, since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, has the international order undergone change on the scale we are witnessing today.
• By Dr Marelize Vergottini, senior lecturer in Social Work at the North-West University (NWU).
The North-West University (NWU) and Pukyong National University (PKNU) in Busan, South Korea, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and a student exchange agreement aimed at advancing academic cooperation and international mobility.
The agreements mark a new chapter in the NWU’s internationalisation efforts and strengthen its strategic engagement with the East Asian region.
The respective delegations were led by Dr Myunshin Ha, vice-president of PKNU, and Prof. Linda du Plessis, senior deputy vice-chancellor of the NWU.
The North-West University (NWU) reaffirmed its status as one of the leading sports universities in South Africa after securing six of the top honours at the 10th North West Sports Awards event, with its football, athletics and road running programmes all recognised during the ceremony held at the Sun City Superbowl on Saturday.