There is something special happening here and either heartbreak or euphoria await. On Monday night, 10 April, the North-West University (NWU) Eagles beat Maties from Stellenbosch University 19-10 in Potchefstroom to advance to the Varsity Cup finals. Take a bow, boys.

The NWU/CycloDNA team performed exceptionally well at the 2023 South African National Track and Para-Cycling Championships. They won two gold medals within the first two days of the event, which took place at the Belville Velodrome in Cape Town from 1 to 5 April.

Prof Pieter Kruger, director of the NWU Centre for Health and Human Performance (CHHP), participated in the 20 km race for veterans (aged 40 to 49) on Tuesday and successfully defended his title as winner, while earning UCI points for his ranking as a male road cycling rider.

A student from the North-West University (NWU) is one of 28 writers from 19 countries whose short story has been shortlisted by an international judging panel for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

Matshediso Radebe, a third-year communication student at the NWU’s Potchefstroom Campus, is also one of only three writers from South Africa ― and one of only six writers from Africa ― who has been shortlisted for the prestigious prize.

North-West University (NWU) students in the Faculty of Education pursuing African languages studies recently undertook an excursion tour to the Achterberg Camp and Conference Centre in Krugersdorp.

The aim of the tour was to empower the group of second and fourth-year students with academic skills, focusing on teamwork and ethical matters.

It is difficult for researchers to find funding for research in African languages and more work needs to be done to promote African languages as languages of research, teaching and learning.

This was mentioned at the inaugural Batho Abantu African Languages Association (BAALA) conference that was hosted by the North-West University’s (NWU’s) School of Languages, the NWU Language Directorate and SEFALA.

The conference brought together local and international researchers in African languages and took place at the Riverside Sun Hotel in Vanderbijlpark.

The North-West University (NWU) continues to deliver chartered accounting students of the highest calibre, as is evident from the recently released results of the Initial Test of Competence (ITC) of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Namibia (ICAN), which was written in January.

Prof Louis du Preez, professor of zoology at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU), was honoured by having a newly discovered Malagasy frog species named after him.

The honour was bestowed by a group of German scientists from the University of Braunschweig, Landesmuseum in Darmstadt, and the Zoological Museum in München, in recognition of Prof du Preez’s substantial contributions to understanding the flatworm parasites of Malagasy anurans.

The North-West University’s (NWU’s) Prof Jan de Kock is ready to help make a difference in helping to solve South Africa’s current energy crisis.

He was inaugurated as president of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) on 23 March 2023.

During the event Prof de Kock delivered his inaugural address titled “Load-shedding – can South Africa be saved?”.

He said that it is a great honour to serve the electrical engineering fraternity as president of the SAIEE.

Prof Ewelina Niemczyk, Dr Jan Khumalo, and Matthews Makunye recently organised two research capacity building workshops for academics in the North-West University’s (NWU’s) School of Professional Studies in Education.

Designed with the support of the school director, Prof Kobus Mentz, the two workshops were aimed at improving the quality and impact of the research conducted within the school at the Mahikeng Campus.

During the workshops, researchers were empowered with the necessary knowledge, competencies, tools, and resources to increase research productivity.

NWU staff continue to make significant contributions, not only locally but also internationally. The executive dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Prof David Modise, has been appointed to the interim governing council of the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions (ANSTI).

Prof Modise will serve as a member of this council for two years, effective from 1 March 2023.