Teaching and Learning

Prof Linda du Plessis rebukes Dawie Roodt’s university closure comments

South Africa has too many public universities, and most of them should be closed. Furthermore, only 10% of the population should pursue a university education, “while there is a big shortage at other skill levels”. These are some of the comments recently made by economist Dawie Roodt, who also labelled South Africa’s primary education sector as one of the worst in the world, arguing that the quality of state-owned universities has declined and that universities should be more selective when admitting students.

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New teaching centre will empower students as critical thinkers and change agents

By Gofaone Motsamai and Phenyo Mokgothu

Spearheading curriculum change, empowering educators to use decolonial syllabi and engaging students as critical thinkers and change agents is the mission of the new Centre for Teaching Excellence and Curricular Engagement (CTECE) at the North-West University.

The new centre, marking the university’s commitment to redefining education in the Faculty of Humanities, was launched at Mmabatho Palms Hotel and streamed online on 8 May 2025.

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Culture and crisis communication in focus with visit from global expert

Culture and crisis communication took centre stage at the North-West University (NWU) when the institution was honoured to host internationally acclaimed scholar Prof Krishnamurthy Sriramesh from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

With a global academic footprint and numerous accolades to his name – including the prestigious Pathfinder Award and PRIDE Awards – Prof Sriramesh delivered a powerful public lecture titled “The link between culture and crisis communication: Global case studies”.

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Academic joins the launch of InnovateHER to support young women in STEM

Dr Moleboheng Mokhele-Ramulumo, senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education and member of the Research Unit for Self-Directed Learning, has been invited as a panellist for the upcoming InnovateHER project launch, under the African Female Voices platform, which will be held at the University of Johannesburg on 10 May 2025.

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Academic elected as the new president of the African Astronomical Society

Prof Amare Abebe, research director at the Centre for Space Research at the North-West University (NWU), has been elected as the new president of the African Astronomical Society (AfAS).

AfAS was established to create a globally competitive and collaborative astronomy community in Africa.

Prof Abebe’s focus will be on expanding membership, fostering research collaboration and enhancing astronomy education and outreach across Africa.

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2025 SAICA and ICAN results reaffirm NWU as a leader in accounting education in South Africa

The North-West University (NWU) has again emerged as a leader in accounting education in South Africa. Its candidates achieved an overall pass rate of 95% in the January 2025 Initial Assessment of Competence (IAC) examinations of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Namibia (ICAN).  

This compares to the national average pass rate of 70%, according to the results, which were announced on Friday, 4 April 2025.

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This is why we engage with friends abroad

This week a delegation from the NWU will leave for the shores of the United States to visit North Carolina State University (NCSU).

We do so during a time of great tension between our two countries. We cannot look past that. The relationship between the US and South Africa is strained, but we cannot let that derail us from our goal, which is to learn, to keep learning and to bring back what we have learned to our university, our province, our country, and our continent.

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