Dr Sean McCallaghan, recently appointed director for student life on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Vanderbijlpark Campus, says his vision for Student Life is to continue creating a differentiating and inclusive environment for students.

Dr McCallaghan, who holds a PhD in business administration and management from the NWU, will assume his role on 1 March 2023, succeeding the late Jacob Simango who passed away in June last year.

Admired for his readiness to mentor and support students, his appointment has been widely welcomed by the university community.

The 2023 Budget speech was a surprise-free, pragmatic and credible response to a challenging set of global and domestic economic circumstances.

Prof Raymond Parsons, an economist from the North-West University (NWU) Business School, commented on the 2023 Budget introduced to parliament by the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana.

“Although having received some windfall tax-revenue gains, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana still had a difficult balancing act given the political and economic constraints within which he had to shape fiscal policy.”

Olé, Olé, Olé! Now that got the blood flowing, didn’t it? The North-West University (NWU) Eagles clawed their way to a 41-28 win over the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Monday night in Potchefstroom after having their feathers ruffled by the visitors from Johannesburg in the first half.

In doing so, the Eagles got their 2023 Varsity Cup campaign off to a splendid start, scoring six tries to their opponents’ three. Still, as stated, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. UJ led 18-15 going into the break after Eagles’ flanker Gustav Erlank was sinbinned in the 15th minute.

North-West University (NWU) academic in the African Centre for Disaster Studies, Prof Livhuwani Nemakonde says the heavy rainfall experienced in South Africa in recent weeks is due to a combination of factors.

“Climatologists have indicated that this is because of the La Niña phenomenon. La Niña (Spanish for little girl) is the opposite of an El Niño (little boy), which usually predicts low rainfall for South Africa.

The North-West University (NWU) Business School hosted its third PITSO discussion for 2023 during which experts deliberated on the President’s State of the Nation Address on 9 February 2023. With 184 attendees, topics discussed included the current energy question, issues pertaining to the current energy crisis, economic growth and the reality of crime, corruption and renewal.

This month the North-West University (NWU) welcomes first years and returning students to its campuses. While various forums have been put in place to improve student safety, especially that of female students, rolling electricity blackouts are likely to create an environment conducive to crime flourishing.

We are fortunate that the late Prof Marilyn Setlalentoa, who was the NWU deputy vice-chancellor for Community Engagement and Mahikeng Campus Operations, was passionate about dealing with issues of crime affecting students and their safety at this university.

Leané Naudé, an MSc Engineering student at the North-West University (NWU), will be packing her bags for Amsterdam in May to represent South Africa in the global finals of the Blue Sky science competition.

She earned this honour after coming second in last year’s national Blue Sky awards, a biennial competition acknowledging the work of students and young researchers in forest-based science product development.

The 2023 State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa to Parliament on 9 February gave a wide-ranging, candid and realistic appraisal of South Africa’s present tough and challenging economic landscape.

Research should not only be an academic activity but should also have a positive impact on society.

This view was shared by Prof Darelle van Greunen, an extraordinary professor at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Optentia research unit during a recent prestige lecture at the Vanderbijlpark Campus.

North-West University (NWU) academic and director of Indigenous Language Media in Africa (ILMA) research unit Prof Abiodun Salawu has commended the South African television news channel Newzroom Afrika for expanding its horizons with the launch of its first Nguni-language news broadcast.

Prof Salawu says this is a very heart-warming development.

“I believe this would make information more accessible to Nguni language speakers, and it would go a long way.