Collaborate to understand unemployment
"No job, no food, please help." These words on makeshift cardboard signs can be seen at every street corner on any given day in South Africa. With an unemployment rate of 26,7% in the first quarter of 2018, it comes as no surprise that South Africa is one of 20 nations with the highest unemployment figures in the world. Yet there is hope. The Optentia research focus area at the NWU's campus in Vanderbijlpark has teamed up with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium in understanding this problem and finding ways to intervene.
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Talking export opportunities at the Agbiz Congress 2018
With populations expanding in many parts of the world and rapid urbanisation straining countries' resources, the need for food and food security has never been so great. While this has created enormous opportunities for farmers in many parts of the world, including South Africa, our agricultural sector is facing significant challenges – not least of which is the uncertainty surrounding land reform in the country and encroaching climate change – which is affecting annual yields and the growth potential of the sector.
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NWU is banking on a new method to calculate capital
Globally, banks are faced with ATM crimes, system security breaches and other types of fraud. These operational risks have to be carefully managed in order to minimise losses, with regulators requiring banks to set aside capital to safeguard themselves against unexpected losses that may occur. Research by the NWU's Centre for Business Mathematics and Informatics has resulted in a new and innovative model for banks in this regard. It enables banks to make more accurate estimates of the capital required to guard against operational risk losses.
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