Prof Dan Kgwadi

Message from

the vice-chancellor

Dear alumnus,

 

This year our Varsity Cup rugby team was not able to repeat last year’s heroics. We also had some other disappointments, fortunately balanced by some real achievements over a wide spectrum.

 

Win or lose, you cannot for a moment ignore the North-West University. We are not only the second-largest university in South Africa; we are also always striving for quality, competing among the top universities of South Africa – whether on the sports fields or in the academic arena.

 

This statement is backed up by the story in this issue about a recently published report that lists the NWU as one of the top five innovative universities in South Africa. I was really heartened by this news as it is a tribute to the ingenuity and creativity of our staff and students.

 

 

This achievement comes at a time when we are putting a lot of energy into restructuring our university in order to meet present-day and future challenges.Against this challenging background, we received encouraging feedback recently from the Council on Higher Education. During the course of a programme review, one of its panels commended the NWU on “the truly astounding progress it has made in restructuring, as compared with the 2014 baseline submission”.

 

The report added: “There is ample evidence that this has taken enormous honesty, commitment and hard work, and the panel wishes the NWU well with the implementation of what has been conceptualised.”

 

This welcome acknowledgement coincides with a crucial period we have gone through, namely the appointment of senior managers who will take the NWU forward as a unitary university focused on academic excellence and social justice.

 

Thank you for your unwavering support of your alma mater. I am sure that the reinvented North-West University will continue to make you proud.

 

 

 

Kind regards,

​

Prof Dan Kgwadi

Vice-Chancellor