The North-West University (NWU) has appointed a specialist in information technology (IT) governance, risk and business engagement as the university’s digital strategy officer.
Andile Swartbooi will serve in this capacity from 1 May 2022 onwards.
His responsibilities will include the execution of the NWU’s digital strategy, focusing on its four pillars: intentional experience; operating efficiency; business model changes and enablers.
The North-West University (NWU) continues to shine in global rankings. In the latest rankings, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) placed the NWU in the top 4,5% of universities in their 2022/2023 edition of the Global 2000 list. This is an improvement from being in the top 4,7% in last year’s ranking.
This outstanding achievement was published on 25 April on the cwur.org website. The NWU was ranked according to academic performance among 19 788 universities worldwide.
Jacques Beukes of the MUST Deep Learning research group at the Faculty of Engineering is the 2021 winner of a North-West University (NWU) Vice-Chancellor’s Medal for his dissertation “Interpretability of deep neural networks for SYM-H prediction”. Eight vice-chancellor’s medals are awarded annually to the best master’s-degree students at the NWU. Jacques was awarded the medal for Engineering.
The Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) Centre of the North-West University (NWU) has partnered with Wits University to do palaeontology research along the Karoo Basin.
The IKS Centre team comprises Prof Simeon Materechera, a senior professor and research leader for the NWU team, and Otsile Maditsi, a lecturer at the centre. They are working with the Wits team to explore the indigenous knowledge associated with palaeontology.
The IKS Centre will focus on indigenous paleo-knowledge which consists of geomythology associated with palaeontology.
He is no longer the reigning, defending, undisputed Two Oceans Half-Marathon champion. However, Elroy Gelant transcends the above-mentioned moniker. After the 2020 and 2021 half-marathons had been scrapped due to the Covid-19 pandemic, on Sunday, 17 April 2022 Gelant relinquished the title he had won in 2019. Yet he again showed the grit and resolve that have been hallmarks of his exceptional career. Gelant claimed silver, which is a great achievement that is made exceptional if one takes into consideration the thigh muscle injury he sustained at the 2021 Olympic Games in Japan.
Phenyo Mokgothu
South Africa is presently experiencing an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) on farms and communal areas in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West and Gauteng.
Hannes Lombard, manager of the North-West University’s (NWU’s) farm in Mahikeng, says the outbreak of FMD in the country has a big impact on the poorest people who are directly dependent on their livestock.
“FMD reduces herd fertility, leading to less efficient herd structures and lower livestock productivity, which in turn affects food security.