The Debating Union on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Mahikeng Campus took part in the annual Jozi Rumble Tournament, hosted by the University of Witwatersrand from 7 to 9 April 2023.

The Jozi Rumble is a significant part of African debating history. The tournament explores the developmental aspects of African debating, and promote a culture of excellence. This year marked the 11th rendition of the tournament.

The Mahikeng Campus was represented by team members Abel Kayeye and Orefile Babeile and adjudicator Sandile Mbizeni.

There is something special happening here and either heartbreak or euphoria await. On Monday night, 10 April, the North-West University (NWU) Eagles beat Maties from Stellenbosch University 19-10 in Potchefstroom to advance to the Varsity Cup finals. Take a bow, boys.

A student from the North-West University (NWU) is one of 28 writers from 19 countries whose short story has been shortlisted by an international judging panel for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

Matshediso Radebe, a third-year communication student at the NWU’s Potchefstroom Campus, is also one of only three writers from South Africa ― and one of only six writers from Africa ― who has been shortlisted for the prestigious prize.

The North-West University (NWU) continues to deliver chartered accounting students of the highest calibre, as is evident from the recently released results of the Initial Test of Competence (ITC) of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Namibia (ICAN), which was written in January.

Prof Louis du Preez, professor of zoology at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU), was honoured by having a newly discovered Malagasy frog species named after him.

The honour was bestowed by a group of German scientists from the University of Braunschweig, Landesmuseum in Darmstadt, and the Zoological Museum in München, in recognition of Prof du Preez’s substantial contributions to understanding the flatworm parasites of Malagasy anurans.

This year, North-West University (NWU) students showed their mettle during the on-campus qualifying round of the 2023 Hult Prize competition.

This international competition challenges young people to solve the world’s most pressing issues through social entrepreneurship. Every year, the best team globally receives $1 000 000 in funding to make their idea a reality.

North-West University academic and researcher Prof Lebo Gafane-Matemane recently attended the 14th HOPE Meeting with Nobel Laureates from 27 February to 3 March 2023 in Tsukuba City, Japan.

She was nominated by the National Research Foundation (NRF), together with Dr Ncediwe Ndube-Tsolekile from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

The HOPE meetings have been organised by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) since 2008, aiming to advance science and technology in the Asia-Pacific and Africa region.

The North-West University (NWU) continues to feature in international rankings. The latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject includes the NWU in two subject areas: agriculture and forestry, and medicine.

The 2023 QS World University Rankings by Subject ranked the NWU in the 351 to 400 category for agriculture and forestry and in the 551 to 600 category for medicine. This is the first year that the NWU has featured in the ranking table for agriculture and forestry.

North-West University statistics lecturer Dr Piet Ntema recently presented a paper at the 17th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED2023) in Spain.

He presented the paper from his PhD thesis titled “Feature selection of student(s) at risk of dropout using administrative data at a university in South Africa”. He was among six other participants from South Africa who presented at the conference.

North-West University (NWU) master’s student in economics Sphesihle Thusini was announced second runner-up in the postgraduate category of the 2022 Nedbank & Old Mutual Budget Speech Competition and walked away with R50 000.

For the 2022 competition, postgraduates were asked to submit an essay, evaluating the impact of public infrastructure investment on economic growth based on South Africa's post-2000 experience. They were also asked to discuss this impact on the prospects for economic growth in the medium term.