North-West University (NWU) senior IT technician Nico Kroucamp is brimming with pride as his sailing team, Albatross, won three regattas in the last three months.
The three regattas the four-member team won, were the SA Sailing 75th Anniversary Regatta, the King of the Vaal Regatta and the L26 Class 2023 Free State provincials. The team is now awaiting an invitation to compete for national honours in KwaZulu-Natal.
North-West University (NWU) Setswana lecturer and poet Ogodiseng Mokakale recently published an anthology of 60 Setswana poems, Tswina ya Poko.
Ogodiseng says teaching poetry at schools has lost its way, and that it is difficult to bring university students up to speed when they do not have a proper poetry background.
Fortunately, his passion for poetry motivates him to teach and instil a love and appreciation for poetry in his students.
Leané Naudé, an MSc Engineering student at the North-West University (NWU), will be packing her bags for Amsterdam in May to represent South Africa in the global finals of the Blue Sky science competition.
She earned this honour after coming second in last year’s national Blue Sky awards, a biennial competition acknowledging the work of students and young researchers in forest-based science product development.
The North-West University’s (NWU’s) School of Geo and Spatial Sciences, in collaboration with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (KZNDARD) and Wesgrow Potatoes, hosted three farmers’ days for smallholder farmers in Swayimane and Applesbosch in January 2023.
This was to show support to these farmers and to celebrate a successful 2022 summer planting season that led to high potato yields (40 t/ha).
The 2023 State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa to Parliament on 9 February gave a wide-ranging, candid and realistic appraisal of South Africa’s present tough and challenging economic landscape.
Research should not only be an academic activity but should also have a positive impact on society.
This view was shared by Prof Darelle van Greunen, an extraordinary professor at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Optentia research unit during a recent prestige lecture at the Vanderbijlpark Campus.
North-West University (NWU) academic and director of Indigenous Language Media in Africa (ILMA) research unit Prof Abiodun Salawu has commended the South African television news channel Newzroom Afrika for expanding its horizons with the launch of its first Nguni-language news broadcast.
Prof Salawu says this is a very heart-warming development.
“I believe this would make information more accessible to Nguni language speakers, and it would go a long way.
Prof Tobie van Dyk, a highly respected applied linguist from the School of Languages at the North-West University (NWU) has been seconded to the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) from 1 January to 31 December 2023.
“Prof van Dyk’s expertise in the field of applied linguistics and his well-established national and international networks are essential for SADiLaR to fulfill its mandate,” says Mr Juan Steyn, SADiLaR’s director of operations.
Language resources audit
A proposed three-year deal by the Department of Tourism and SA Tourism to sponsor English Premiership club Tottenham Hotspur has caused widespread consternation and has received plenty of condemnation in what many deem an ill-thought venture.
According to Prof Peet van der Merwe from the research unit TREES (Tourism Research in Economic Environs and Society) at the North-West University (NWU), this amount could have been better used for other tourism purposes.
Academic writing is key to academic success, but getting it right is not easy, particularly for students who are learning in a second or third language. This is where the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) makes a difference.
SADiLar’s language development and testing node, the Inter-institutional Centre for Language Development and Assessment (ICELDA), has developed a series of videos, called Write It, to fill the gap by guiding students through writing.