Zambia’s economy is built on mining, especially copper. Like all mining activities, copper mining has health risks associated with it. A shortage of formal occupational hygiene expertise and capacity can leave a void in the protection of miners from occupational diseases such as silicosis. A researcher at the North-West University (NWU) is aiming to make a difference by developing occupational hygiene capacity for Zambian mines.
Miracle workers who have to dig deep to find magical solutions to solve problems – this is how Prof Elmien Truter describes the social work students the North-West University (NWU) send into the communities.
Prof Truter, an associate professor in Social Work and a researcher at the research focus area Community Psychosocial Research (Compres) on the Vanderbijlpark Campus, said this after witnessing the second-year students declaring that they will adhere to the ethics and standards of their profession.
The principal and vice-chancellor of the North-West University (NWU), Dr Bismark Tyobeka, has called on graduates to be good ambassadors of the university and to brace up for the new challenges that may likely come their way. This was said during a recent graduation ceremony held at the Vanderbijlpark Campus.
Talking to a congregation that included graduates in various disciplines, their families and academic staff, Dr Bismark congratulated all graduates with their success and wished them well as they move on to a new chapter in their lives.
Second-year social work students from the North-West University (NWU) are annually gaining much needed practical experience by participating in mock trials.
This year second-year students from the NWU’s Vanderbijlpark Campus participated in a mock trial practical on 26 and 31 October 2022 at the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate Children’s Court.
Prof Elmien Truter, an associate professor from Social Work and researcher at the research focus area Community Psychosocial Research (Compres), says the idea to expose social work students to mock trials started around 2014.
Postgraduate students and researchers from the North-West University (NWU) won seven awards at the Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene’s (SAIOH’s) annual conference that took place from 26 to 28 October 2022 in Boksburg, and during the gala dinner the best students and research articles were awarded.
According to Prof Johan du Plessis, the director of the Occupational Hygiene and Health Research Initiative (OHHRI), no awards were given in 2019 and 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and therefore, this year awards were given for 2019, 2020 and 2021.
When South Africa was declared a democratic state in 1994, Prof Shan Simmonds was only 11 years old. Although she could recognise things changing around her, she could not understand the deeper discourses that infused these changes.
In her experience, a handful of black learners entered what had, up until that point, been a whites-only farm community school. The so-called handful soon grew in numbers and, contrary to what one might imagine, especially considering that the teaching staff remained unchanged, Prof Simmonds experienced no sense of racial divide or discrimination.
It takes a team of specialists to ensure that the bright ideas, groundbreaking innovations and impressive intellectual property of the North-West University (NWU) stay ahead of the pack in an increasingly competitive environment.
Recognising the expertise at the NWU, a delegation from Malawi visited the university’s Technology Transfer and Innovation Support (TTIS) Office from 2 to 4 November with the aim of establishing a similar office in their country – the first for Malawi.
The chancellor of the North-West University (NWU) has been honoured with a prestigious international award for making a difference not only in her community but also globally.
Dr Anna Mokgokong, who was inaugurated as the NWU’s chancellor in 2019, is the recipient of the Women Who Make A Difference Award for 2022 of the International Women’s Forum (IWF). The IWF award ceremony took place on 3 November in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States of America.
At a memorial service on 26 October 2022, the North-West University (NWU) community across all three campuses honoured staff and students who have sadly lost their lives during the year.
In support of the university's values, the University Management Committee resolved to host annual memorial services to remember NWU community members who have passed away.
Read the memorial message delivered by NWU principal and vice-chancellor Dr Bismark Tyobeka.
Prof Shaukat Abdulrazak, director of the Division for Africa Technical Cooperation at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), delivered a nuclear lecture at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Mahikeng Campus on 1 November 2022.
The lecture was organised by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) National Liaison Office, in conjunction with the NWU’s Centre for Applied Radiation Science and Technology (CARST).