A North-West University (NWU) delegation visited the University of Melbourne, Australia’s highest-ranked institution, on 20 November to benchmark international best practices and explore avenues for future collaboration.

The visit comes as the NWU accelerates plans to establish the Desmond Tutu School of Medicine, scheduled to welcome its first cohort in 2028, and advances discussions to launch a School of Mining and Mining Engineering.

The unanimous decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to cut interest rates by another 25 basis points (bps) was the right one.

Prof. Raymond Parsons, economist at the North-West University (NWU) Business School, says the MPC decision of 20 November is the result of a number of recent favourable financial developments. It created the space to further ease borrowing costs for business and consumers, which he says is encouraging.

The North-West University (NWU) honoured its exceptional staff at the annual NWU Excellence Awards ceremony, held in Potchefstroom on 20 November.

More than 150 staff members received recognition for their outstanding contributions to the university’s key focus areas of teaching and learning, community engagement, and research and innovation.

South Africa’s place in the world is becoming harder to navigate. The geopolitical map is being redrawn by rising authoritarianism, disinformation wars, cyber sabotage, and increasingly complex regional conflicts. For a state that sits at the junction of Africa’s economic ambitions and the pressures of global power politics, understanding these shifts is no longer optional. It is strategic survival.

The North-West University (NWU) and its AI Hub are continuing to strengthen the institution’s digital capacity through an incentive programme aimed at encouraging academic staff to complete the AI and Assessment course. This initiative is a collaborative effort between the office of the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, the AI Hub, the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), and People and Culture.

 By Prof Roelof Coetzer

• Engineers cannot fix healthcare alone, and clinicians cannot carry the burden without systems support. The NWU is bridging this gap.

• Healthcare systems engineering can be seen as an umbrella term where the healthcare habitat is viewed as a complex system that encompasses technical, organisational, human, and policy dimensions.

Three North-West University (NWU) students are preparing to take on one of the world’s most prestigious youth leadership platforms. Hailing from various parts of South Africa, Kananelo Mlangeni, Nomcebo Dumakude, and Xoliswa Sethunya will represent NWU and SA at the 5th Global Peace Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, from 21 to 23 January 2026.

During a visit to Australia, a delegation from the North-West University (NWU) held a series of engagements with The University of Western Australia (UWA) on 18 November 2025, opening discussions on collaboration in research, teaching and learning, and student and staff mobility.

The visit to UWA – the first by a South African university – aligns with the NWU’s strategy of developing long-term international partnerships across key academic disciplines.

The North-West University (NWU) continues to build on its reputation as an innovative, globally engaged institution committed to excellence and societal relevance. This commitment is driven by its strategy, Taking the NWU forward: 2024 and beyond. This is once again affirmed in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Sustainability Ranking, which highlights our growing impact in addressing critical environmental, social and governance priorities aligned with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.