A mindset change in favour of self-directed learning could solve many of the problems in education and possibly in the workplace too, according to award-winning North-West University (NWU) expert Prof Elsa Mentz.

The Education Association of South Africa (EASA) awarded Prof Mentz the EASA Medal of Honour during its annual conference at Sun City in January.

Prof Mentz is the director of the NWU Research Unit for Self-Directed Learning– believed to be the only such unit in the international education research community.

Sizwe Mazibuko, a second-year BSc Quantitative Risk Management student at the North-West University (NWU), has been named a top 10 finalist in the prestigious 53rd Nedbank & Old Mutual Budget Speech Competition.

This competition serves as a platform for the brightest economic minds in South Africa to engage with critical financial issues, fostering solutions that contribute to the nation’s economic growth.

Medical biological scientist Puseletso Manyaka-Lesofe from the Centre for Human Metabolomics at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU) has been selected as one of Forbes Africa’s 2025 Over 30 Under 50 honourees for her contributions to science and academia.

Over the past two weeks, from 27 January to 7 February, registered postgraduate students from the North-West University (NWU), alongside other participants from across the Southern African Development Community (SADC), engaged themselves in the fields of data science and computational thinking. In a world of data-driven decision-making, they acquired vital skills that will influence their futures.

By Tiyiselani Precious Miyambu

The 2025 academic year is officially under way at the North-West University (NWU). Staff members across all three campuses attended the opening ceremony on Thursday, 13 February 2025, where the university leadership outlined priorities for the year ahead.

On 8 February 2025, the North-West University (NWU) rolled out the purple carpet for its newest ambassadors across all three campuses, welcoming about 13 000 first years to the NWU family. The official welcome unfolded on the Vanderbijlpark Campus, with a live broadcast to the Potchefstroom and Mahikeng campuses.

“We should not underestimate what may ultimately be at stake for the South African economy and business in the face of the current sharp breach in bilateral political and diplomatic relationships between the United States (US) and South Africa.”

“We won’t be bullied.” These words by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in response to US president Donald Trump’s verbal attacks on South Africa grabbed headlines, but SONA 2025 had much more to unpack than that.

On Friday, 7 February, the North-West University (NWU) Business School hosted its Pitso discussion analysing SONA 2025 under the theme of: In pursuit of “sufficient consensus”: SONA 2025.

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to play an increasingly important and prominent role in our lives, the North-West University (NWU) has established the NWU AI Hub to serve as a coordinator and facilitator for all things AI at the NWU. No sphere of the university environment has been left unaffected by the AI revolution, and with the creation of the NWU AI Hub, the university is implementing the necessary structures and guidelines to navigate the pitfalls and opportunities that this groundbreaking technology holds.