Community Engagement

NWU joins the fight against diabetes

Article by Nolwazi Xulu and Menziwa Msibi

The Faculty of Health Sciences at the North-West University (NWU), together with the subject groups Biochemistry and Physiology, the Lifestyle Diseases research niche area, and the Mahikeng Campus Health Centre hosted a diabetes drive on 10 May 2023 to raise awareness about preventing and managing diabetes mellitus.

This drive forms part of an inter-faculty registered community engagement project.

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Recalibrating teacher training in African higher education

Three North-West University (NWU) academics, Dr Sifiso Sibanda, Prof Gideon van Tonder and Prof Washington Dudu are the proud editors of the book Recalibrating teacher training in African higher education institutions: A Focus on 21st-century pedagogical challenges.

The book, which critically examines the role of governments in promoting parity during and in post-pandemic education, is published in open-access format by AOSIS Scholarly Books.

According to Prof Dudu, this comes from the realisation that the pandemic has deepened the crisis.

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Career day empowers alumni

The North-West University (NWU) Alumni Office in partnership with the Career Centre hosted a Career Empowerment seminar on 19 April at the Vanderbijlpark Campus.

The event was well-attended and provided valuable information and resources to alumni seeking advice on their career paths.

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Three NWU alumni’s boxing academy aims to uplift the community

Three female alumni of the North-West University (NWU) and former university team boxers – Onalenna Tsae, Goitseone Kgopiso, and Keamogetse Lesole – opened the SK Boxing Academy in 2022 to develop and promote the sport in their community.

The academy, strictly owned and run by women, currently has two branches – one in Uitkyk Village and the other in Mmabatho.

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Memory of Prof Dan Kgwadi honoured

On request of the family of the late Prof Dan Kgwadi, former principal and vice-chancellor of the North-West University (NWU), a memorial service to honour him was held on 4 May 2023 at the Mahikeng Campus.

Prof Kgwadi passed away on 30 April 2023.

Many speakers paid tribute to him during the memorial service, describing him as a visionary leader who was committed to making a difference in the lives of students and the wider community.

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Revolutionising maths education: Whartels™ learning programme is helping kids excel

A North-West University (NWU) senior lecturer in the subject group Psychology, Dr Petro Erasmus, developed and designed the mathematics programme Whartels™ – which is exclusively used in Let’s Really Play Maths Centres – to help foundation phase learners excel in maths.

This programme was recently launched at the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) in Pretoria.

Her innovative programme focuses on developing both cognitive and neuro-psychological facets to help children improve their maths skills.

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Minister appoints NWU’s Research Support director to Water Research Commission

Expert knowledge is needed to protect and manage water, an essential and scarce natural resource. As a relatively dry country, South Africa faces crucial challenges that include insufficient water, water quality problems, inadequate infrastructure and inconsistency in access.

The Water Research Commission (WRC) plays an integral role in enabling the country to address these issues. One of the NWU’s own is now stepping up to play a part in this commission’s important work.

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Snail Day raises awareness of schistosomiasis and river health

The North-West University (NWU) Water Research Group (WRG) and the University of Limpopo (UL) recently hosted a Snail Day community workshop, sponsored by the Water Research Commission (WRC).

According to Dr Lizaan de Necker, principal investigator from the NWU, this formed part of their project that focuses on the distribution of schistosomiasis in South Africa, how it may have changed over the past 40 years, and to model how the distribution may change in the future because of climate change.

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