Over the past two decades, our university has walked a path defined by the pursuit of greatness and excellence. We have constantly explored new frontiers in teachinglearning and research and innovation, devoted ourselves to meaningful community engagement (CE) and fine-tuned our offerings to custom fit the needs of our students and stakeholders. We have forged a strong identity, renewed our brand, embraced change and positioned ourselves as a respected player in South Africa's higher education landscape.
Through it all, our commitment to knowledge, social justice and transformation has been the driving force as we take bold steps on the path ahead.
Our journey has been significantly accelerated by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) that opened up new opportunities and shifted benchmarks as the NWU integrated cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, the internet and the social media revolution into our education and research.
Just like any traveller who embarks on a journey into the unknown, the NWU too has encountered unexpected challenges such as the Covid-19 epidemic, sharp economic shifts and significant societal changes. The resilience of our staff, students and other stakeholders in times of difficulty has empowered us to push forward and forge the university as a strong institution.
Our journey is also a testament to the impact our work has in our communities. The NWU's researchers are constantly looking for ways to better the lives of our stakeholders. Our influence extends beyond borders and crosses boundaries as we reach across the African continent and into the global arena.
Although two decades have now passed since the merger in 2004, our journey is far from over. It is a journey with no end in sight. The road ahead stretches out with opportunity and we continue in the same spirit that has carried us thus far – the spirit of innovation, resilience and unwavering commitment to making a difference.
As our journey continues, so does our impact as we continue to evolve, adapt and create impact.
The story behind our continued journey towards excellence and impact is intended for you, our stakeholders.
Our stakeholders are individuals and 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.
The NWU's primary stakeholders are our students, alumni, Council, staff, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), peers, collaboration partners, communities in surrounding areas and the business community (as future employers of our students).
Our story will also be of value to other stakeholders such as donors, future students and other institutions of higher learning.
Our story starts with an overview of the NWU and explains how we interacted with our operating environment.
On the following pages, you will find a graphic image of our business model, followed by the risks and opportunities that affect us, and how we are dealing with these. In the section on our strategy, we describe where we want to go to and how we intend to get there, while the section on how we performed against our capitals describes what we did to achieve our strategic objectives.
To show the connections between the various sections in our integrated report and to enhance your journey of discovery, we use different icons for our capitals, strategic goals and enablers. These are shown on the next page.
Intellectual
This includes our processes, procedures, policies, strategies and knowledge-based intangibles emanating from our teaching and learning and research and innovation activities.
Human
Staff and students (internal stakeholders).
Social and relationship
Relationships with external stakeholders.
Manufacturing
Tangible infrastructure and assets.
Natural
Environmental/natural resources.
Financial
Funds that we obtain and spend according to budget.
Material matters are issues that substantively affect an organisation's ability to create value for itself and its stakeholders, according to the Integrated Reporting Framework of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).
The content for this integrated report is provided by the NWU University Management Committee (UMC) members, together with their directors, taking the principle of materiality into account.
Our integrated reporting task team also participates in identifying matters with the biggest impact on our ability to create value. This team is led by the NWU's registrar and includes the deputy vice-chancellor for planning and the chief strategy officer in the office of the vice-chancellor.
Our integrated reporting is guided by the principles and requirements of the IIRC's Integrated Reporting Framework, King IV and the DHET's reporting regulations.
We also consider documents such as the NWU's Annual Performance Plan (APP), which puts the university's strategic plan into action, as well as our risk register. Various role players across the university provide input for these documents.
In addition, our reporting is also informed by the matters our stakeholders raise during their interaction with us. These are described in the section on how we engage with our stakeholders, in the table labelled: Issues raised.
The goals, enablers and strategic assumptions resulted from the process the UMC members used to identify material matters to include when developing or revising the APP.
Our key risks and opportunities are the result of an institution-wide risk analysis process.
Annually in December
Our integrated report is the primary vehicle for reporting to our stakeholders. It is supplemented by the following:https://www.nwu.ac.za/content/nwu-annual-reports
documents for various stakeholders, which can be accessed on our website at:https://www.nwu.ac.za/content/nwu-our-publications
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 IV Report.
We use various measures to ensure the integrity of the financial and non-financial information in our integrated annual report. These measures include monitoring and oversight by our management and governance structures, as well as the use of internal audit and external assurance providers.
We obtain reliable student and staff data from our Institutional Planning and Strategic Intelligence Department, which is also responsible for submitting NWU data to the Higher Education Information Management System (HEMIS) for approval.
Internal assurance providers give us assurance about the effectiveness of the internal controls at the NWU. Their input is incorporated into our report.
The report includes summarised audited consolidated financial statements, which are extracted from the audited consolidated financial statements, prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and independently audited by our external auditors, Nexia SAB&T.
Our auditors independently audited the information in our performance assessment report.
The financial statements, including the auditors' report, are in Annexure 6.
More information about combined assurance can be found in the risk section of this report.
To further ensure the accuracy of our content, we submit our integrated report to various NWU structures for their consideration and approval. These structures include the University Management Committee, the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (among other Council committees), and finally the NWU Council.
Upon advice from its Audit Risk and Compliance Committee, Council believes that the integrated report addresses all material matters and offers a balanced view of the NWU's strategy and the organisation's ability to create value.
The NWU Council confirms that it has:
CHAIRPERSON OF COUNCIL
CHAIRPERSON OF THE AUDIT, RISK AND COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE
INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT | 2024