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About this report

Explore, expand and evolve

Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was a year like no other. Instead of “business as usual”, we as the NWU had to adapt to the new circumstances and explore, expand and evolve to save the academic year in the short term, but also stay steadfast on our path towards realising our strategy in the long term.

In this integrated report we tell you, our stakeholders, how we achieved that balance by mobilising and effecting our resources, skills and relationships, known as our “capitals”.

There are six capitals: intellectual, human, social and relationship, manufactured, natural and financial. (Please click here to read more about our capitals.)

Although we aim to create value in all instances, our capitals can also undergo either a net decrease or experience no net change. In such cases, value is eroded or preserved.

Keeping this in mind, we are committed to interact responsibly with our capitals, as our resources and relationships are, after all, vital to our ability to create sustainable value.

This story is for you

The story of how we explore, expand and evolve – during 2020 and beyond – is intended for you, our stakeholders.

Our stakeholders are those individuals or groups whom we affect through our activities and services, and whose actions can also affect our ability to successfully implement our strategy and achieve our goals.

This integrated report mainly talks to our primary stakeholders. They are our students, alumni, Council, staff, the Department of Higher Education and Training, our peers, our collaboration partners and our business communities (as future employers of our students).

However, we believe that our story will also be of value to the other stakeholders we engage with at the NWU.

How our story expands

As the pandemic swept across the globe, we had to adapt the way we look at education and execute our core business. Our story in this integrated report is to a great extent shaped by the new challenges we had to overcome.

At the beginning of our story, we give an overview of the NWU and explain how we interacted with our external environment and specifically how we experienced and responded to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Also in this report is a graphic of our business model, which is about creating value for the NWU and our stakeholders.

Navigating our story

We use different icons to show the connectivity between the various sections in our integrated report.

Materiality of the report content

We use the concept of “materiality” to decide what information to include in this report. As set out in the International Integrated Reporting Council’s (IIRC) Integrated Reporting Framework, we see material matters as:

• Issues that substantively affect the university’s ability to create value over the short, medium and long term; and
• Issues that are important to any stakeholder wishing to make an informed assessment of the NWU’s ability to generate value.

How we identify relevant matters

We, as the integrated reporting task team, led by the NWU’s registrar and including the deputy vice-chancellor for planning and the chief strategy officer in the office of the vice-chancellor, identified those matters with the highest potential to impact our ability to create value.

In the process, we took the following frameworks into account:

• The NWU’s *Annual Performance Plan (APP) that puts the strategic plan into action;
• The common strategic assumptions that underpin our strategy;
• The **risk register;
• The IIRC’s Integrated Reporting Framework; and
• The DHET’s reporting regulations.

We also considered those factors in our external environment that substantially affect our ability to create value.

In addition, materiality was informed by the issues our stakeholders raise during their interaction with the university. These are described in the section on how we engage with our stakeholders, in the table under the subheading: Issues raised.

Reporting period and scope, and suite of reports

Reporting period

Our integrated report reflects the performance of the NWU across its three campuses for the period

1 January to 31 December 2020.

In addition to the financial information, the report also includes non-financial information. This includes facts about our non-financial performance, risks and opportunities and the internal and external factors that substantially influence our business. Where material, we discuss the real and potential impact of these matters on our ability to create value.

Reporting cycle

Annually in December

Contact point for questions:

marlene.verhoef@nwu.ac.za

Suite of reports

Our integrated report is the primary vehicle for reporting to our stakeholders. It is supplemented by the following:

• Annual financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2020, which can be found on the NWU website.
• Documents for various stakeholders, which can also be accessed on the NWU website.

“No material matters have been omitted from the report due to confidentiality, legal or information reliability constraints.”

Our reporting framework

This integrated report has been prepared in accordance with the IIRC’s International Integrated Reporting Framework and the DHET’s Regulations for Annual Reporting by Higher Education Institutions (published in June 2014 and incorporating principles from the King III Report).

Assurance

Internal and external assurance providers provide assurance about the effectiveness of the internal controls at the NWU. Their input has been incorporated into this report.

We also made sure that our reporting is accurate, by taking the following steps:

• After compiling the integrated report, we submitted it to the University Management Committee. The committee considered the completeness and accuracy of the content and provided feedback where necessary, which was then incorporated into the integrated report. Only then did we submit the report first to the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee and then to Council for approval.
• The student and staff data in this report was obtained from our Institutional Planning and Strategic Intelligence Department, which is also responsible for submitting NWU data to the Higher Education Information Management System (HEMIS).

PricewaterhouseCoopers also independently audited the information in our performance assessment report. The annual financial statements, including the auditors’ report, can be obtained from the NWU website.

More information about combined assurance can be found in the governance section of this report.

Council approval

Council and its subcommittees are responsible for overseeing the integrity and completeness of this integrated report.

Council confirms that it has reviewed the contents of the report and applied its collective mind to the preparation and presentation of this report.

Furthermore, Council believes that it has appropriately considered the accuracy and completeness of the material matters, as well as the reliability of the information presented in this report.

Council has sufficiently considered and materially presented these matters in accordance with the Integrated Reporting Framework of the IIRC.

Council approved the 2020 integrated report on 17 June 2021.

DR BISMARK TYOBEKA
CHAIRPERSON OF COUNCIL

MR THABO MOKGATLHA
CHAIRPERSON: AUDIT, RISK AND COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE