On 29 May 2020 the North-West University (NWU) hosted the first of its kind virtual Africa Day commemoration lecture.

The North-West University (NWU) hosted its first-ever virtual conferral of degrees and awarding of diplomas due to the challenges posed by social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.

Africa Day is commemorated annually to acknowledge and celebrate the African Union’s successes in its fight against colonialism and apartheid. Furthermore, this event recognises the progress made by the African continent, and also reflects on challenges that Africa continues to face.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut the repo rate by another 50 basis points on 21 May. Prof Raymond Parsons, well-known economist and academic from the NWU Business School, says this underscores the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) resolve to provide the necessary monetary support in light of the economic impact of the prolonged Covid-19 lockdown.

The first virtual 5-km fun run the North-West University (NWU) hosted on 16 May was a runaway success. More than 600 runners from as far as New Zealand, Germany and China took part in the online event.

In the times in which we currently find ourselves, adequate healthcare and the accompanying screening are of the utmost importance to limit the spreading of the coronavirus.

If you log on to any social media platform in the early hours of the morning you are likely to find a lot of people online. Since the country went into lockdown due to Covid-19 a few weeks ago, South Africans have been struggling to fall asleep.

Across the globe, a major concern in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic has been a shortage of medical equipment, particularly ventilators. As the number of confirmed cases increase on a daily basis in South Africa, the private and public sectors are preparing for the anticipated need, but it is still unclear if we will have enough ventilators should the predicted surge in infections come.

With the world facing an unprecedented challenge in the form of the global Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen everyone coming together to combat this pandemic. The North-West University (NWU) played its part and recently launched the NWU Covid-19 Response Fund as a means of supporting students with laptops/devices while also offering support to staff and all communities surrounding its campuses.

The Faculty of Engineering at the North-West University (NWU) is proud to announce that we will be adding a brand new engineering qualification to our existing range of programmes. The Bachelor of Mechatronic Engineering programme has been approved by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and will allow graduates to compete internationally on the world stage. This programme will be offered as from 2021.