Student life

NWU researcher lauds SA laws on protection of women's right to bodily integrity

Over the past week the State of Nebraska in the United States of America (USA) has been engulfed in wide spread protest action over its highest courts’ anticipated appeal judgment. This decision will, once in effect, overturn its 1973 landmark judgment affording women the right to choose to legally terminate pregnancies. 

North-West University (NWU) academic and researcher Itumeleng Dinku says South Africa’s Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) Act of 1996 was a monumental step towards in protecting the right to reproductive autonomy.

Submitted on Tue, 05/10/2022 - 14:44

NWU rakes in medals at national championships

Athletes from the North-West University (NWU) – both former and current – were in exceptional form during the recently held Athletics South Africa Senior Track and Field Championships in Green Point, Cape Town.

In all, sixteen medals were won in a variety of codes.

Javelin throwers Johann Grobler and Jo-Ané van Dyk claimed gold, as did 20 km race walkers Marissa Swanepoel and Wayne Snyman. Valco van Wyk leapt the highest of all in the pole vault.

Submitted on Fri, 05/06/2022 - 09:16

NWU Eagles Young Guns succumb to Tuks in final

Their senior counterparts may have left the Varsity Cup competition a bit prematurely, but the NWU Eagles Young Guns aimed to go all the way when they squared off against Tuks in Stellenbosch on Monday, 25 April. It was not to be. The team from Pretoria, doing what Pretoria-based teams seem to be doing in every conceivable rugby competition in South Africa over the past year, beat the Eagles Young Guns 22–14. 

It is not the fairy-tale ending the boys were hoping for, but the journey proved to be memorable. 

Submitted on Tue, 05/03/2022 - 16:29

Franco taking student life in his stride

It was love at first sight. Boy meets campus. In 2019, Franco van Dijk visited the North-West University (NWU) campus in Potchefstroom as part of a tour by his school choir.

“We saw a lot of the campus – it almost felt like an open day. I really liked what I saw and decided that this was where I wanted to go,” says Franco, who matriculated from the Ligbron Academy of Technology.  

Franco, who was born in Bethal, Mpumalanga, will be turning 19 in May and is enrolled in his first year of working towards a degree in Electromechanical Engineering.

Submitted on Tue, 05/03/2022 - 16:22

Young entrepreneur takes haircare products to the world

For this young woman entrepreneurship is a way of life. North-West University (NWU) master’s student in chemistry, Paula Maseko, recently started her own business by producing and selling haircare products.

Paula, who hails from Lonelypark in Mahikeng, started her business in 2020 in her mother’s garage. With a few pots, bowls, a hand blender and a two-plate stove, Buhle Bomqhele hair cream and growth oil were born.

Submitted on Tue, 05/03/2022 - 15:43

NWU’s IKS Centre collaborates with Wits University to explore indigenous palaeo-knowledge

The Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) Centre of the North-West University (NWU) has partnered with Wits University to do palaeontology research along the Karoo Basin.

The IKS Centre team comprises Prof Simeon Materechera, a senior professor and research leader for the NWU team, and Otsile Maditsi, a lecturer at the centre. They are working with the Wits team to explore the indigenous knowledge associated with palaeontology.

The IKS Centre will focus on indigenous paleo-knowledge which consists of geomythology associated with palaeontology.

Submitted on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 15:26