For the past 12 years the Mobile Agri Skills Development and Training (MASDT) nonprofit company has been empowering farmers from selected rural communities in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. Now it wants to know how effective its programmes have been – and who better to assist than the North-West University (NWU)?

A large number of South African children are living their lives without the presence of a father figure. The issue of absent fathers has been a major problem in the country for a number of years.

More than 55 years after the Sharpeville massacre, the township is still bleeding, and the youth are suffering the consequences. This is according to Prof Danie Meyer, associate professor in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the North-West University’s (NWU's) campus in Vanderbijlpark. 

A 10-year-old partnership between the North-West University (NWU), Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is going strong, continuing to produce good results for small-scale farmers. Launched in 2007, the North West Nguni Cattle Development Project is the province’s contribution to the ongoing national drive to capacite small-scale farmers.

The 1990s concept of “giving psychology away” has come to life at Optentia in 2017 where research is being done with the purpose of “giving science away”. For the Optentia research focus area, the community is the starting point for any research project.  “At Optentia, we do research together with the community,” says its director, Prof Ian Rothmann.  

Sebastian Kot regards South Africa as not only one of the most beautiful countries he has visited thus far, but also as a valued destination for collaborative research.

The North-West University (NWU) has awarded an honorary doctorate to a seasoned and experienced academic who has made an outstanding contribution towards promoting Afrikaans in the Low Countries (the Netherlands and Belgium).

Two researchers from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the North-West University (NWU) were honoured for their outstanding research by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).

The research activities of the Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research (AUTHeR) on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) campus in Potchefstroom are focused on bio-psychosocial health and specifically on preventing illness, maintaining and promoting health and facilitating quality health systems.

Community research is undergoing a major shift in South Africa, and the North-West University (NWU) is at the forefront of the changes. Where previously the emphasis was on working on philanthropic projects in communities, community research now uses scientifically based methods to tackle critical community challenges.