“Never view challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it is important for you to understand that facing and overcoming difficulty is actually one of your biggest advantages since it teaches you perseverance, resilience and adaptability.” This is the message from Prof Linda du Plessis, acting campus rector of the Vanderbijlpark Campus of the North-West University (NWU) to all members of the campus community.

The resurgence of anti-immigrant violence in Johannesburg and Pretoria has send shockwaves across the continent and prompted calls for robust dialogue and pro-active interventions to stamp out xenophobia.

The Optentia research focus area on the Vanderbijlpark Campus and the Faculty of Education Sciences on the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU) is hosting the 2nd Bi-Annual Symposium on Teacher Education for Inclusion in collaboration with De Vlaamse Vereniging voor Ontwikkelingsamenwerking en Technische Bijstand. 

The North-West University’s Vanderbijlpark Campus (NWU Vaal) is joining hands with the Social Sciences Research Society in Turkey to host the 8th International Conference on Social Sciences (ICSS) later this year.

A portfolio of clinical research programmes are set to launch on South African soil with the potential to enhance the scientific understanding of what is expected to become the most common cause of death in South Africa - non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Researchers studying cardiovascular diseases and it’s risk factors at the North-West University (NWU) just received significant funding to help alleviate this huge African risk.

What is the economic value of lion breeding in South Africa? This was the question Prof Melville Saayman and Prof Peet van der Merwe of the research unit TREES (Tourism Research in Economic Environs and Society and members of the South Africa Predators Association) asked when certain pressure groups again asked for captive lion breeding to be banned.  

The National Research Foundation (NRF) has awarded Prof Eno Ebenso, acting vice-rector for research and planning at the Mahikeng Campus of the North-West University (NWU), a B3 rating for the international recognition he has attained in chemistry.

“The year is certainly off to a running start. January is already something of the past, our registration process went well and our classes commenced successful and without any incidents or disruptions.”

“If all of us were to say ‘We are all in’, it will be a good transition to the new dispensation.” That was the appeal made by the Rector of the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU), Prof Fika Janse van Rensburg, at the official opening of the academic year.

The following article represents an opinion piece by Dr Ilyayambwa Mwanawina, an academic staff member of the North-West University’s Vanderbijlpark Campus. Dr Mwanawina specialises in the fields of regional integration, international law, good governance and human rights. He continues to publish his research in scientific journals on contemporary African perspectives in these fields.