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Recognition of Sign Language a progress step for inclusivity

North-West University (NWU) academic Prof Moses Phooko has lauded the National Assembly’s approval of South African Sign Language as the 12th official language on 2 May 2023.

The South African Constitution previously provided for 11 official languages, which include Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, and isiZulu.

The adoption of this amendment brings the number of official languages in South Africa to 12, once the President signs the Bill into law.

Submitted on Tue, 05/16/2023 - 07:18

PhD student embarks on exchange programme to Belgium

Ryan du Toit, a PhD student in psychology from the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Health Sciences, will soon leave for Belgium, after he has been selected for an international priority country exchange programme.

The exchange programme comprises a fully paid scholarship, starting in September 2023 until the end of January 2024.

This initiative is part of the Community Psychosocial Research focus area’s (COMPRES) efforts to increase its global footprint.

Submitted on Tue, 05/16/2023 - 07:15

Optentia to host top international scientist

The North-West University’s (NWU's) Optentia research unit will host a top international scientist, Prof Alexandre JS Morin, on its Vanderbijlpark Campus on 29 May 2023.

Prof Morin will present a hybrid workshop on structural equation modelling, targeted at academics and master’s and PhD students who use quantitative data-analysis techniques to study the validity of models.

Submitted on Tue, 05/16/2023 - 07:07

How do you swear? Study to investigate swearing and bilingualism in South Africa

A study by the University of Vienna, in collaboration with researchers from South Africa and the United Kingdom, is investigating the different emotional responses bilingual people have towards swear words in their different languages. The study will focus on English-Afrikaans bilingualism, examining the perceptions of swear words and swearing behaviors of English-Afrikaans bilinguals in South Africa. The study aims to measure complex bilingualism and understand why some words may be considered acceptable in one language but not in another.

Submitted on Mon, 05/15/2023 - 08:45

NWU joins the fight against diabetes

Article by Nolwazi Xulu and Menziwa Msibi

The Faculty of Health Sciences at the North-West University (NWU), together with the subject groups Biochemistry and Physiology, the Lifestyle Diseases research niche area, and the Mahikeng Campus Health Centre hosted a diabetes drive on 10 May 2023 to raise awareness about preventing and managing diabetes mellitus.

This drive forms part of an inter-faculty registered community engagement project.

Submitted on Fri, 05/12/2023 - 10:05

Recalibrating teacher training in African higher education

Three North-West University (NWU) academics, Dr Sifiso Sibanda, Prof Gideon van Tonder and Prof Washington Dudu are the proud editors of the book Recalibrating teacher training in African higher education institutions: A Focus on 21st-century pedagogical challenges.

The book, which critically examines the role of governments in promoting parity during and in post-pandemic education, is published in open-access format by AOSIS Scholarly Books.

According to Prof Dudu, this comes from the realisation that the pandemic has deepened the crisis.

Submitted on Thu, 05/11/2023 - 09:10