The North-West University's (NWU’s) Mahikeng Campus recently launched Project First Touch to create a warm and welcoming environment for first-year students as they embark on their university journey.

The primary objective of the project – spearheaded by Prof Sonia Swanepoel, deputy vice-chancellor for community engagement and Mahikeng Campus operations – is to provide comfort and instil a sense of belonging in first-year students as they transition into university life.

His name is Schalk, Schalk Pretorius. And if it had not been for Schalk Pretorius, the North-West University (NWU) would have lost a tennis champion.

Many years ago, in the maize farming community of Bothaville, a young Schalk decided that he wanted to play tennis. Very well, said Mom Erika and Dad Vickus, you will play tennis. If the one child plays, the other one does too, and Schalk’s three-year-old sister Suzanie – still more toddler than person – also received a racket in the hand.

She is by no means overly tall, and on the netball court she is often surrounded by skyscrapers. However, heart and courage are not measured in centimetres, and Martiné Jordaan from the North-West University (NWU) is a firebrand on the court.

She has even caught the eye of the selectors for the Protea team, and from 22 to 28 January she was part of a national training camp in Stellenbosch.

Here her fearlessness was clearly apparent, but she says she undergoes a metamorphosis when she leaves the court.

It is a dance of swift feet and balls travelling in soaring arcs. It is a tapestry of teamwork, sewn together by threads of unrelenting attacks and staunch defence. Netball is a sport like no other, and one the North-West University (NWU) has mastered.

By Vukosi Mathale

On Thursday, 16 April 2023, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Super Pressure Balloon, carrying the Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT), from Wanaka, New Zealand. The SuperBIT operates in the stratosphere at an altitude of 40 kilometres above sea level.

Prof Jan de Kock from the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Engineering clinched the Best Paper Award at the recent Southern African Universities Power Engineering Conference (SAUPEC 2024).

The conference, jointly hosted by Stellenbosch University and the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE), serves as a premier regional platform bringing together industry experts, academics and students in the fields of engineering, computer science, and information technology.

North-West University (NWU) academic Prof Olubukola Oluranti Babalola has been awarded an honourary fellowship by the International Science Council in Paris, France.

This fellowship is the highest accolade the ISC can bestow on an individual, and acknowledges their exceptional efforts in advancing science as a global public good.

The ISC is a non-governmental organisation with a unique global membership that brings together more than 245 international scientific unions and associations, including academies, research councils, federations and societies.

As was expected, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously decided at a fourth consecutive meeting on 25 January (its first meeting of 2024) to again keep interest rates unchanged and therefore higher for longer.

Prof Raymond Parsons, economist from the North-West University (NWU) Business School, says the tone of the MPC’s statement remained highly cautious, as it did not see the battle against inflation as yet having been permanently won.

On Monday, 18 December 2023 the North-West University (NWU) and the Mine Health and Safety Council (MHSC) engaged in a discussion aimed at promoting collaboration and fostering a relationship that will benefit both parties.

The meeting took place at the office of the of the vice-chancellor in Building F1 on the Potchefstroom Campus, with both parties agreeing on a commitment to signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on a pre-agreed basis in February 2024.