OUR EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
In the student environment, we consciously focus on student access and success; reasonable accommodation for students with disabilities; multilingualism and development of African languages; transformation in the student governance environment, emphasising sustainable diversity, social cohesion and inclusivity; gender rights, identity, sexual orientation awareness and activism.
Influenced by the changing student profile on our campuses, our understanding of multiculturalism and integration continues to expand as previously marginalised groups and minorities find their voice within the larger university community.
The journey toward equity, inclusion and diversity continues and we remain committed to driving sustainable transformation. This includes deepening our understanding of the true impact of inequality on student access and success and, accordingly, providing multifaceted support.
Strategic matter affected:
development of a
clearly
differentiated
student value proposition (goal 4)
Capitals affected:
human, social and
relationship,
financial
It may happen that instances of inequality and inequity spill over from the external environment. Our approach is to identify these phenomena early on, be proactive in addressing them, and manage them constructively.
Our student value proposition is centred on social cohesion, inclusivity and belonging. This is contingent on our ability to take timely and appropriate action when there is a risk of students feeling excluded and marginalised.
We proactively develop and implement measures aimed at building social capital, awareness and partnership within the student community. By continuing to identify and support initiatives and programmes that enable access and success, we contribute towards addressing societal inequalities and imbalances.
The university community, as part of society, acknowledges its responsibility to promote social change. We integrate interventions and platforms that facilitate social change into existing curricular and co-curricular programmes and continuously refine our governance model and policies.
In maintaining a relevant and valuable student experience, we engage the student community through multifaceted communication channels and provide student support that is relevant and impactful.
The NWU we received more than 200 000 applications for 12 000 first-year places in 2024. The Government’s plans to reduce funding for post-school education by R5,6 billion between 2024 and 2025 means there will be even greater pressure on university placements, accommodation and living expenses.
Strategic matter affected:
development of a
clearly
differentiated
student value proposition (goal 4)
Capitals affected:
human, social and
relationship,
financial
Diminishing resources make it harder to balance supply and demand in higher education. The current imbalance, coupled with the rising cost of university life, potentially exposes institutions to heightened levels of dissatisfaction on campuses and among stakeholders in surrounding communities.
The university provides merit bursaries and has a special fund for postgraduate students. We are in constant contact with private accredited accommodation owners to ensure a safe and conducive environment for students.
The NWU is committed to enhancing the quality and relevance of its academic offerings to address the evolving needs of students, society, workplaces and the workforce. By embedding key competencies such as critical and creative thinking, digital literacy and collaboration into our offerings and methodologies, the NWU’s qualifications remain relevant, responsive and competitive.
Strategic matter affected:
teaching and learning
(goal no 1)
Capitals affected:
intellectual, human, social
and
relationship, manufactured, financial
Students and graduates are better equipped to adapt to workplace, professional and societal shifts when they are aware of diverse perspectives and world views, including indigenous knowledge systems. This injects a sense of urgency to the decolonisation of the curriculum so that we can equip graduates for the challenges of 21st century society.
In 2024, as part of curriculum transformation, we commenced a Programme Qualification Mix (PQM) review of our 360-credit bachelor’s degrees at NQF Level 7. This review recognises the need to align degree structures with national qualification frameworks, such as the Higher Education Quality Sub-Framework (HEQSF), and to standardise bachelor’s 360-credit degree structures, promoting institutional and campus alignment,. Finally, future-focused competencies, particularly those aligned with the 4IR, must be embedded in all curricula.
While generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been around for a long time, the emergence of user-friendly AI tools such as ChatGPT has amplified its role and significantly disrupted the higher education sector.
The disruptiveness of AI requires changes in teaching methods, administrative processes and the educational environment, as well as in addressing the fears staff, students and graduates may have about the impact of AI-enabled automation on the job market. The NWU continues to drive digitalisation through its Digital Business Strategy (DBS), ensuring that it remains competitive and attractive to the best of students and staff, and enhances teaching practices, learning experiences and student support services, while defending against ever-increasing cyber threats.
Strategic matter affected:
all goals and enablers
Capitals affected:
all capitals
By integrating AI technologies, combined with data and analytics, into teaching and learning, research and support services, we can provide more personalised and effective learning experiences.
AI implementation presents opportunities for improved operational efficiencies, cost savings and better campus experiences. Many of the more mundane lecturing tasks can be automated, freeing up capacity for student engagement, while AI-enabled analytics allow for early detection of at-risk students. Expanding digital and online learning platforms increases educational access, particularly for remote or financially constrained students.
We are making a concerted effort to increase digital literacy and plan to establish a Digital Academy.
Data analytics and cybersecurity have been identified as crucial areas for investment growth to safeguard our intellectual and infrastructure assets and drive data-based strategic decision-making.
The NWU’s Learning Management System (LMS), eFundi, having served the institution well over many years, has reached end of life. A project is currently under way to source a new LMS system that reflects the new strategy focus of the NWU and the needs of a changing teaching and learning environment.
Similarly, plans are under way to review and replace the financial and human resources systems as part of the NWU digital transformation and business renewal process.
We are also preparing to replace the Student Information System (SIS).
Through strategic partnerships with leading industry companies and experts, we are able to access cutting-edge skills and capacity to successfully drive the digitalisation process. Hybrid flexible (HyFlex) technology is part of the strategy to develop smart learning spaces.
The shortage of academic staff in South Africa remains a serious challenge. This is exacerbated by increasing global and local demand for highly qualified individuals. The NWU strives to proactively adapt its human-capital planning, policies and processes to address these constraints while balancing financial sustainability.
Strategic matter affected:
teaching and learning
(goal 1), research
and innovation (goal 2), community
engagement (goal 3)
Capitals affected:
intellectual, human, social
and
relationship,financial
Recruiting and retaining high-calibre academic staff with the requisite diversity, expertise and experience is essential. Failure to address the skills shortages could undermine the NWU’s ability to implement functional multilingualism and deliver on its strategic goals.
Recruitment challenges also risk increasing reliance on temporary staff, which may affect our capacity to execute our core academic mandate. These pressures are compounded by decreasing subsidy income and capped student fees, necessitating cost-containment measures. Such measures include a moratorium on filling non-critical positions.
In 2024, the NWU continued to prioritise initiatives aimed at recruiting, retaining and developing talented staff.
Staff retention initiatives include developing competitive retention packages for staff in scarce skills areas; streamlining recruitment processes to reduce delays and costs; enhancing professional development opportunities to promote internal talent mobility; and advancing transformation initiatives to attract and retain diverse talent at all levels.
Research funding and support from many government and industry funding agencies has decreased or stopped. There is also less and less pre-commercialisation, seed and venture capital funding for innovation and new technology development.
The implementation of the new National Research Foundation (NRF) funding instrument has affected postgraduate funding. Although the amount per student has increased, fewer students are being funded.
Strategic matter affected:
research and
innovation (goal 2)
Capitals affected:
financial, intellectual,
human, social and
relationship
Our research productivity and standing in national and international rankings may be negatively affected by the contraction of the external research funding pool.
We attempted to soften the impact of external funding cuts in 2024. We awarded University Capacity Development Grant (UCDG) mobility grants totalling R1 352 575,82 to our researchers and provided R528 008,15 for research mentorship, including assistance with NRF-rating applications. In addition, we contributed R312 156,97 to the operating expenses of the research chairs and R65 070,75 to the salary component of these chairs. A further R302 717,96 was used for consultation services for the future development of research chairs.
The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) has designated the NWU’s Technology Transfer and Innovation Support (TTIS) office as a “mature partner”. This status grants us greater autonomy in the allocation of TIA Seed Funds but comes with stringent deadlines and additional deliverables.
The NWU Enterprises CEO and TTIS Chief Director have submitted an application requesting R3 million in strategic funding, with an additional R1 million in co-funding from the TTIS, to participate in the University Technology Fund (UTF), an early-stage venture capital fund dedicated to supporting university spin-off companies.
We continue to take a long-term view of funding and to develop and maintain good relationships with funders. This is underpinned by a sound understanding of industry’s needs and challenges, and the ability to respond with relevant solutions and innovations.
Although demand for IP recovered slightly in 2024, the reduction in early-stage, seed and venture capital funding remained a problem.
Strategic matter affected:
research and
innovation (goal 2)
Capitals affected:
financial, intellectual,
human, social and
relationship
Lost income and reduced licensing and spin-off activities could ensue if uptake of our IP and technologies is low.
We boost our prospects of continuing to attract funding, collaborators, commercialisation partners and licensees by improving the way we market the NWU’s intellectual property (IP), technologies and innovative research. The TTIS office is working closely with the newly established NWU Enterprises to improve the marketing effort.
In 2024, we proactively engaged our researchers so that we better understand their work, raise awareness of the TTIS office’s services, and encourage early-stage consideration of market needs in research. These connections are instrumental in building a culture of innovation and commercialisation, ensuring that researchers are well-equipped to translate their discoveries into impactful real-world applications.
Through open-source licensing models and strategic collaborations with non-profit organisations, we aim to maximise the dissemination and impact of university-generated innovations and advance knowledge for societal benefit. These alternative pathways ensure that university-developed technologies, software and creative works reach broader audiences.
Backing up our inventions with trialled and tested prototypes can lead to increased success in the licensing of patents. As prototype development and demonstration is expensive, we focus on being innovative in seeking out research funding, despite economic fluctuations.
(For more information, see Create value through innovation and technology.)
The NWU acknowledges its responsibility to use campus-generated knowledge for community benefit and, in turn, to welcome the contribution community endorsement makes in granting us a social licence to operate.
In support of meaningful and sustainable community involvement, we have created a central database on social engagement activities and projects. Using this database, we register, monitor and evaluate and link the outcomes of projects and activities to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Strategic matter affected:
Integrate and align
community
engagement (CE) with teaching-learning and research to develop a
culture of active citizenship (goal 3).
Capitals affected:
financial, intellectual,
human, social and
relationship
The quality of our relationships with external partners can be seen in the positive impact these relationships have on our strategy of engaged teaching and learning. These relationships, nurtured through CE that addresses community needs, facilitate student placements for work-integrated learning and service learning, and foster ongoing, sustainable development in communities.
Our CE endeavours are rooted in partnerships, ongoing engagement with key stakeholders and the use of appropriate platforms and interfaces, both formal and informal.
The NWU CE Stakeholders’ Forum is a formal engagement platform to deepen our connections with stakeholders and foster strategic collaborations for student placement, service learning and knowledge co-creation through research. In 2024, we held three stakeholders’ forum meetings to consult with 76 local stakeholders per NWU campus.
One of our most successful programmes is entrepreneurial and enterprise development through the b-Hive initiative in Vanderbijlpark in Sedibeng. This programme supports emerging businesses through training and business development opportunities.
Accountability is important to us and our stakeholders. Our community activities are monitored, incorporated into the CE database, evaluated and reported on in our annual report.
(For more information, see community engagement.)
INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT | 2024