In a heart-warming celebration of commitment and dedication, the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Vanderbijlpark Campus recently honoured its staff members for their long-standing service to the institution.

The university recognised employees who have reached milestones of 10, 15, 20, 25 and an astonishing 30 years of service. Together, these recipients commemorated a remarkable combined tenure of 835 years, symbolising not just loyalty, but a profound dedication to the university's mission and values.

On Friday, 8 March we celebrate International Women’s Day. It is a time for reflection and remembrance, and a time when we recognise the sacrifices of the past and accomplishments to come. It has been 113 years since the first International Women’s Day was celebrated in 1911, and we live in a world that has been irrevocably changed since then.

Prof Leenta Grobler, deputy director of the Business School at the North-West University, explains why it is imperative that the 2024 school governing body elections must be characterised by informed decisions.

A team of students from the North-West University (NWU), under the guidance of computer scientist and lecturer Dr Japie Greeff, recently participated in the BRICS Skills competition in China in the Data Analysis and Visualisation and Machine Learning and Big Data categories.

More than 138 participants from over 60 universities in 13 countries participated in the event, and the NWU walked away with various medals and awards.

Two rounds and two resounding wins. The North-West University (NWU) Eagles gave their home crowd at the Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds enough to cheer about as they beat the University of the Western Cape (UWC) 49–15 in their Varsity Cup clash.

A purple wave of six tries washed over the visitors and the tide was firmly in the Eagles’ favour. Telling is the – perhaps mournful – fact that a number of opportunities for the home team went to waste. The Eagles should have won by a bigger margin, and they will be the first to admit it.

A delegation of academics and researchers from the University of Novi Sad in Serbia, led by Prof Jovana Nikolov and Dr Andrej Vraničar, visited the North-West University's Centre for Applied Radiation Science and Technology (CARST) from 20 to 24 February.

The visit, funded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria, aimed to contribute expertise to the development of best practices in measurement and analysis using gamma spectroscopy and liquid scintillation counter (LSC) techniques.

“Malaria remains a formidable global health challenge with approximately 608 000 deaths attributed to it in 2022, the majority occurring in sub-Saharan Africa,” says Dr Fortunate Mokoena, a senior lecturer in the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

It was a fun-filled, educational, and fascinating day for the first-year engineering students, with activities varying from learning a novel word in a different language to answering the question: “Why did you choose to study Engineering?” in their mother tongue. As these students come from multilingual societies that practise translanguaging, they could communicate relatively effortlessly with one another.

When it comes to money, Millennials – also known as Generation Ys* – have mixed feelings. On the one hand, they have a positive attitude to personal financial planning. On the other, they may be more inclined to indulge in discretionary spending, leading to overspending and difficulties in budgeting effectively.

Adding to this dilemma is that Millennials prioritise immediate gratification over long-term financial goals, such as saving for retirement or building an emergency fund, and may be less inclined to seek advice or guidance from financial professionals.

Despite being nutrient-rich and drought-resistant, indigenous foods are often overlooked in food security strategies. North-West University (NWU) student Modjadji Mandy Rasehlomi seeks to change that.

Modjadji, a master’s student in Indigenous Knowledge Systems, has been delving into the untapped potential of indigenous foods to address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of No Poverty (SDG 1) and Zero Hunger (SDG 2).