The principal and vice-chancellor of the North-West University (NWU), Dr Bismark Tyobeka, has called on graduates to be good ambassadors of the university and to brace up for the new challenges that may likely come their way. This was said during a recent graduation ceremony held at the Vanderbijlpark Campus.

Talking to a congregation that included graduates in various disciplines, their families and academic staff, Dr Bismark congratulated all graduates with their success and wished them well as they move on to a new chapter in their lives.

Second-year social work students from the North-West University (NWU) are annually gaining much needed practical experience by participating in mock trials.

This year second-year students from the NWU’s Vanderbijlpark Campus participated in a mock trial practical on 26 and 31 October 2022 at the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate Children’s Court.

Prof Elmien Truter, an associate professor from Social Work and researcher at the research focus area Community Psychosocial Research (Compres), says the idea to expose social work students to mock trials started around 2014.

Postgraduate students and researchers from the North-West University (NWU) won seven awards at the Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene’s (SAIOH’s) annual conference that took place from 26 to 28 October 2022 in Boksburg, and during the gala dinner the best students and research articles were awarded.

According to Prof Johan du Plessis, the director of the Occupational Hygiene and Health Research Initiative (OHHRI), no awards were given in 2019 and 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and therefore, this year awards were given for 2019, 2020 and 2021.

When South Africa was declared a democratic state in 1994, Prof Shan Simmonds was only 11 years old. Although she could recognise things changing around her, she could not understand the deeper discourses that infused these changes.

In her experience, a handful of black learners entered what had, up until that point, been a whites-only farm community school. The so-called handful soon grew in numbers and, contrary to what one might imagine, especially considering that the teaching staff remained unchanged, Prof Simmonds experienced no sense of racial divide or discrimination.

It takes a team of specialists to ensure that the bright ideas, groundbreaking innovations and impressive intellectual property of the North-West University (NWU) stay ahead of the pack in an increasingly competitive environment.

Recognising the expertise at the NWU, a delegation from Malawi visited the university’s Technology Transfer and Innovation Support (TTIS) Office from 2 to 4 November with the aim of establishing a similar office in their country – the first for Malawi.

In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, Juliet asks the age-old question: ‘What’s in a name?’ In the case of North-West University researcher Prof Nico Smit, the answer is clear ― his name is synonymous with expert contributions in the field of zoology.

This celebrated academic and parasitologist taxonomist follows in the footsteps of revered people such as biologist and author Sir David Attenborough and former President of the United States Barack Obama. Just like them, Prof Smit can also boast that living species have been named after him.

It is a pass. That is the conclusion of a panel of experts that was hosted by the North-West University (NWU) Business School on whether the 2022 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) should receive a “fail” or a “pass” rating.

On Wednesday, 26 October, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivered the MTBPS, with generally favourable reactions.

The North-West University (NWU) recently hosted the second International Conference on Information Literacy (ICIL) on the Potchefstroom Campus.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic prevented the holding of the conference in 2021, many sighed with relief when things returned to normal and restrictions were eased.

Workers in the public sector are furious with government, accusing it of negotiating “in bad faith” after wage negotiations collapsed following the employer’s 3% wage offer.

Only one of the unions represented, the South African Democratic Teachers Union, has accepted the offer.

Thousands of workers were expected to picket countrywide to demonstrate their unhappiness with the offer on Monday, 31 October. Read more here.

The dream of the North-West University (NWU) to be an internationally recognised university was recently given a boost by the appointment of its principal and vice-chancellor as adjunct professor at one of the top universities in the United States of America.