In this issue of Eish! we celebrate our research champions, colleagues who excelled in terms of the annual research excellence awards. My sincere congratulations to all of you. Together with all other researchers, these champions have contributed to us reaching goals in line with our objective of becoming a university where research and teaching are balanced.

 

We likewise acknowledge the contribution of those lecturers who have large teaching responsibilities, as well as that of support staff. Together we are achieving our goals.

 

Meanwhile, the #FeesMustFall protests have been an ongoing challenge that was not conducive to normal teaching-learning and research. The restructuring process also contributed to uncertainty.

 

I sympathise with those of you who were hampered by this, but I hope it didn’t affect your productivity. I urge you to use your time well and keep on contributing to the NWU’s success.

 

This success cannot be measured solely by looking at research statistics, although they are important indicators. We should also aim at doing research of even higher quality. This will be reflected, among others, by a growing presence in the best journals.

 

Furthermore, our researchers should publish widely and not only in “safe” journals.

 

A last remark. As we move towards implementation of our new structure (pending final adoption by Council), we will leave behind the campus-based reporting of research output.

 

In future we will be a faculty-based university and reporting of our research output will have to reflect this.

 

This will contribute to a growing unitary spirit among our staff, one that will eschew competition between campuses while embracing support and cooperation within unitary faculties.

 

This is an exciting challenge for the new year, one that will hopefully start producing the fruit of the processes which took so much of our time during the past year.

 

This being the last Eish! for the year, I thank all concerned for the production of this highly informative, quality online magazine. This issue of Eish! again provides a positive window on a vibrant North-West University.

 

This is highly encouraging!