Students who qualify for the Dean’s Concession Examination at the end of January 2022, will be provided with data for this purpose. This will be a once off allocation and there will not be further data provisioning in 2022. At the end of 2021, the Vice Chancellor informed students that they should return to their campuses for the 2022 academic year. Students who need to access internet may access the NWU Wi-Fi network, libraries or computer laboratories on their campus. In the contact programmes, the NWU will provide a blended offering in 2022, where online activities and personal face to face contact sessions and assessments will be combined. Although every student will not be able to attend every contact opportunity in person, our Hyflex academic venues will allow us to live stream sessions or upload recordings afterwards. Assessments will be online and in person (sit-downs), according to schedules to be provided in February and March 2022. Students in the contact programmes will therefore be required to be present on their campuses and will not be able to opt for a fully online learning option in 2022. Students who register with the Unit for Open Distance Learning, will proceed according to their normal schedule. Faculties that have sit-down examinations due to their statutory or professional bodies’ requirements, will conduct their second examinations until 23 December 2021. When the NWU reopens in January 2022, the examination committees in all faculties have to consider moderators’ reports before approving results. Official result statements will be available in the second half of January 2022.
Online registration of full time first-year students will take place from 25 January 2022 up until 16 February 2022. Online registration of full time senior and returning students will commence on 31 January 2022 and continue up until 18 February 2022. Students should register online and need not be on campus for registration.
You will find more information at https://services.nwu.ac.za/student-accounts-and-bursaries/payable-fees , but the estimated first minimum payable fees for 2002 are:
Compulsory 1st Minimum Fees Payable for 2022 Residence Students All NWU Campuses Non-Residence Students All NWU Campuses Distance Students NWU Registration Fees R 2 110 R 2 110 R 2 110 First Payment on Tuition Fees R 8 630 R 8 630 R 8 630 First Payment on Residence Fees R 9 150 R 0 R 0 Total Compulsory Minimum First Payment 2022 R19 890 R 10 740 R 10 740 Recommended deposit for meals (February & March) only applicable to Potchefstroom Campus R 4 440 The orientation programme for full time first-year students will commence on Monday, 14 February 2022. Lectures for first year and senior/returning students will commence on Monday 21 February 2022. Students who will stay in residences, will receive communication from their respective residences as to when they may return or move in.
With the Covid-19 pandemic still raging and disaster management restrictions still in place, the NWU will return to an adapted format of contact teaching in 2022. All modules in the full-time programmes will have contact sessions led by their module lecturers. This will be for smaller groups of students than before 2020, as the NWU’s lecture venues cannot operate at 100% capacity. These sessions with lecturers will be focused on applications, problem solving and skills development. Students will have to prepare before attendance as they will need prior knowledge to actively participate. From some academic venues, such sessions can be streamed to those students who cannot attend in person. If that is not possible, the session will be recorded and uploaded to eFundi later. Lecturers delivering content will mostly be online, either in the form of synchronous live online sessions on Microsoft Teams or Zoom, or in the form of pre-recorded lectures.
Our students’ safety is our greatest concern, so we have to do whatever we can to minimise the risk of Covid-19 transmission during our activities. The NWU is bound by national regulations on venue capacity, ventilation, sanitation and the required 1.5m social distancing in higher education institutions. A thorough safety audit of venues was conducted and all venues and spaces that are Covid compliant in respect of ventilation and other safety protocols, will be utilised, up to the maximum number of persons allowed in terms of the regulations. To enable the NWU to sanitise venues between contact sessions and to minimise congestion of and contact between groups of students entering and leaving venues, 30-minute breaks have been scheduled between contact sessions.
Faculties/lecturers will communicate that to their groups on eFundi. Once you are registered and linked to a module, you will receive further information on scheduling. If you cannot attend when scheduled, please be in contact with your lecturer to make alternative arrangements and so that someone else may take your place.
The NWU will continue with its multi-layered support to students in the form of tutoring sessions and mentoring by senior (mostly postgraduate) students. The existing supplemental instruction programme will continue. In this programme, a more senior student assists and supports students in their learning in a particular module, under the guidance of the module lecturer. Tutors, mentors and supplemental instructors will indicate whether their sessions will be face-to-face or online.
As I stated in my communique of 11 November 2021, the NWU believes that it is best positioned to support full-time students’ learning, when they are either on campus or close to campus. In this way, they can attend contact sessions and formal learning opportunities, engage in informal learning opportunities and access all the support services that the NWU provides. All lecturers will be available during their published consultation hours, to further assist students. Every student at the NWU has access to a range of support structures including student academic support, libraries, health and counselling services and these can be optimally accessed when on or near one of our campuses.
At present, the NWU does not require vaccination but strongly encourages students to be fully vaccinated when they arrive for the 2022 academic year. As with all higher education institutions, the NWU is currently accessing its health and safety risks in its staff environment, teaching and learning functions as well as in respect of its facilities and related student life activities. The NWU may not predetermine the outcome of the health and safety assessment (and subsequent safety plan) and the national response to Covid-19, but will inform students as soon as possible of the outcome of the health and safety assessment and how it will impact their teaching and learning activities as well as their on campus residency and student life activities in general.
The NWU is a contact institution, offering full-time contact programmes to most of its students and distance learning in specific programmes through its Unit for Distance Learning. A full-time student who is registered for the full complement of modules in a programme, should be busy with their academic activities for at least 40 hours per week. Experience has shown that students are more likely to succeed in an environment where their learning is optimally supported. We had to embark on emergency online teaching and learning in our contact programmes in 2020, but adapted to a more blended teaching and learning model in 2021. Lecturers in all faculties have already been required to return to their campuses and all faculties already offered in-person contact in different forms. In 2022, the frequency of face-to-face contact (in various forms) will be increased and more sit-down assessments will be scheduled. Our planning for the 2022 academic year is adaptable – more contact will be scheduled, should current restrictions be eased and the current risks decrease. Although we offer a comprehensive array of online learning resources on every module’s eFundi site, we regard the interpersonal contact between lecturers and students and amongst students, as part of the learning experience in our full-time programmes.
No, some modules will proceed with the model of continuous assessment. Students in faculties where professional or statutory bodies require sit-downs, will be required to sit for their examinations as before. Final year or exit level modules will be next in line for sit-downs. Practical examinations will continue in person. In some modules there may be one or two sit-down assessments through the course of a semester or year, but not necessarily an examination. Each faculty will decide on its assessment approach and plans for 2022 and this may differ from module to module. You will receive the assessment plan in each of your modules on eFundi, after registration.
You, our students, have rated us highly for our academic delivery in 2021 in all polls that we have seen. We are grateful for the recognition from your side and appreciate the fact that you have noticed how hard our lecturers and other staff have worked over the past 20 months to ensure your academic success. Most of our academics had to upskill during March and April 2020, to present lectures online or to record sessions that would otherwise have been conducted in person. In 2021 we have continued the upskilling and almost all lecturers have attended training on technical features of the online and digital platforms that are used. The NWU will continue and expand its range of training opportunities for academic staff in 2022. The NWU has acquired a license that allows all staff and students access to Microsoft Teams, in addition to other Microsoft applications that can be used for teaching and learning purposes. Teams will be the primary platform for synchronous online lectures in 2022. Groups larger than 1000, will make use of Zoom. A total of 80 academic venues will be equipped for hyflex teaching and learning in the contact programmes when lectures commence in 2022, allowing for live streaming of lectures and interaction between those in the venue and those attending online. This is a phased project and the number of hyflex venues will increase over the next few years. Our administrative and support staff have adapted processes and service delivery where possible and will continue to streamline these to serve our students. The switch to online registration, rendering the notorious registration queues redundant, is but one example. The NWU has embraced the changes brought about by the pandemic, and regards the digital transformation of our institution as a challenge and opportunity to provide a better experience to our students. Will students receive data in 2022?
Will students be able to study only “online” in 2022?
When will we receive our 2021 results?
When do students have to register for 2022?
How much will a student have to pay upon registration?
When do we have to be on campus?
Will the NWU return to full contact teaching in 2022?
Why will personal attendance of contact sessions be limited? Why can all the academic venues not operate at 100% capacity?
How will a student know when s/he should attend a session in person?
Will there be tutoring and supplemental instruction?
Why should any student return to campus if s/he will not be able to attend every contact session?
Will a student have to be vaccinated in 2022 to access campus?
Why can’t students continue studies online in 2022 as was the case previously?
Will all students write sit-down examinations in all modules in 2022?
What has the NWU done in 2021, to improve students’ learning experience in 2022?