Dr Marinda Neethling and Dr Susan Greyling, both academics from the North-West University’s (NWU's) research focus area Community-based Educational Research (COMBER), recently travelled to Namibia and Zimbabwe to collaborate and build relationships in the field of early childhood development.

Dr Neethling's research focuses on providing comprehensive training to caregivers in African early childhood development centres, where many caregivers are unqualified grandmothers or mothers.

Prof Emmanuel Mfanafuthi Mgqwashu, the director of the Centre for Higher Education Professional Development at the North-West University (NWU), recently delivered his inaugural lecture on the Potchefstroom Campus.

The topic of his lecture was “A timely question: How can we not talk about becoming a professor in the context of decolonising higher education?”

During this lecture, Prof Mgqwashu drew from his 26 years of experience in the academia and shared critical reflections on his journey to becoming a professor.

North-West University (NWU) students in the Faculty of Education pursuing African languages studies recently undertook an excursion tour to the Achterberg Camp and Conference Centre in Krugersdorp.

The aim of the tour was to empower the group of second and fourth-year students with academic skills, focusing on teamwork and ethical matters.

Prof Ewelina Niemczyk, Dr Jan Khumalo, and Matthews Makunye recently organised two research capacity building workshops for academics in the North-West University’s (NWU’s) School of Professional Studies in Education.

Designed with the support of the school director, Prof Kobus Mentz, the two workshops were aimed at improving the quality and impact of the research conducted within the school at the Mahikeng Campus.

During the workshops, researchers were empowered with the necessary knowledge, competencies, tools, and resources to increase research productivity.

The benefits from widespread and equitable access to information and communications technologies (ICTs) in South Africa are touted as having the potential to change the course and trajectory of this country for the better.

Researchers at the North-West University (NWU) share this view and are adamant that schools can serve as a base from which to address the growing digital divide, particularly between well-resourced and impoverished schools.

Prof Ewelina Niemczyk from the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Education and member of the Edu-HRight research unit has been appointed an associate fellow at the University of Westminster in London.

She says this is another important link to foster sustainable collaboration between the two institutions.

A delegation from Kogakkan University on the island of Mie, Japan, visited the Vanderbijlpark Campus of the North-West University (NWU) from 20 to 24 February 2023 to demonstrate their new team-teaching style – Lesson Study Approach (LSA).

This teaching style, developed by Kogakkan University, is aimed at preservice teachers as part of their work-integrated learning, and incorporates the advantages of both cooperative and individualised teaching.

The North-West University (NWU) Debating Union on the Mahikeng Campus is dedicated to maintaining the existing skills of public speaking, debating, and critical thinking, and cultivating and maturing these skills in those who would like to learn.

This is according to Kgopotso Sekgobela, chairperson of the union.

The union has consistently received positive reviews of the annual first-year debate tournaments they host to introduce first-year students to university debating.

For children up to seven years old to reach their full potential, early childhood education is essential. Across Africa, many caregivers are grannies and mothers without formal qualifications. Filling this gap is one of several areas for fruitful collaboration between researchers from the North-West University (NWU) and their counterparts in countries such as Zimbabwe.

Dr Marinda Neethling and Dr Susan Greyling of the Faculty of Education visited Zimbabwe in December to collaborate and foster friendships in the field.

Students’ low performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, particularly among women, who are underrepresented in the scientific community, have been a major concern in many countries. This is exacerbated when one views the 2020 UNESCO report, which shows that women account for only 28% of engineering graduates, 40% of computer science graduates and 33% of researchers around the world.