Ever wanted to pursue a career in the medical sciences, public health or hospitality and tourism? These are the highest-ranked subject offerings of the North-West University (NWU) according to the latest rankings from the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.

The popular annual NWU-Juta Mock Trials competition is back in full force, with last year’s virtual format making way for an in-person competition this year.

“We are very excited to have everyone back in our mock courtroom,” says Adv René Koraan, director of Professional Development and Community Engagement and senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law on the Potchefstroom Campus. She says the competition is an excellent opportunity for second- and third-year students to gain much-needed experience.

It is time to buck the dusky trend. The national energy provider, Eskom, is haemorrhaging money at an unsustainable rate and is nearly R400 billion in debt. Equipment is failing, power outages have become the norm, while its energy availability factor (EAF) has fallen by almost 30% in just over a decade.

Change is knocking at the door, loudly enough to draw attention, but yet too softly for everyone to hear. Across the country’s borders the final shots of a war are being fired. The previous regime is gasping for breath, because the world’s sanctions are choking it. The media are being gagged and traitors are being necklaced. It is a discordant symphony of chaos and riots, the conductors are limpet mines, letter bombs and comrades in arms. The prevailing state of emergency is depressing and everyone is spoiling for a fight.

The love two researchers from the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) have for language and their determination to promote and develop it have received a further boost with their inclusion on two language bodies of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB).

Mmasibidi Setaka, digital humanities researcher in Sesotho, and Benito Trollip, digital humanities researcher in Afrikaans, are now members of the national language bodies (NLBs) for their respective languages within PanSALB ― an honour they both cherish.

Two North-West University (NWU) students – Africa Thaba from the Mahikeng Campus and Denise Geel from the Potchefstroom Campus – have been selected to represent the NWU at the 31st Christof Heyns African Human Rights Moot Court Competition. The competition will take place at British University in Cairo, Egypt from 25 to 30 July 2022.

The two final-year LLB students will be accompanied by NWU Faculty of Law representative Advocate Getsia Zazo, who has been helping the two with preparations.

For women who cannot take commercial contraceptives for health or other reasons or cannot access them, North-West University (NWU) researchers and traditional health practitioners from the North West province are exploring alternatives: the use of medicinal plants.

The project is a multistakeholder collaboration led by Dr Arthur Moroole, a postdoctoral research fellow at the NWU, under the mentorship of Prof Simeone Materechera and Prof Oladapo Aremu of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) Centre.

North-West University (NWU) LLD candidate Elfas Torrerai has done a statutory analysis of the use and regulation of mobile money to promote financial inclusion in developing countries.

The title of his study is “A comparative statutory analysis of the use and regulation of mobile money to promote financial inclusion for the poor in Zimbabwe”.

A Fulbright scholar from the United States is joining the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management for 10 months to do research in a field where many stones are still unturned.

There are gaps in knowledge that scientists have about plant and insect species living on serpentinite rocks and filling in some of these could prove useful in understanding the effects of climate change and consequently contribute to conservation.

“My passion for rural development started when I realised that there are families who go to bed without food. I became more interested through my research on key strategies and interventions that can assist the country on how rural development can be best implemented to ensure that food is secure and rural areas are developed,” says Dr Maria Mphahlele, North-West University (NWU) PhD graduate.