OUR PERFORMANCE AGAINST OUR STRATEGY: SIX CAPITALS

Our intellectual capital consists of the knowledge resources linked to our core business activities. We use these knowledge resources to create more knowledge and to develop and implement programmes, policies, strategies and procedures to support our business operations for the benefit of stakeholders.

When we increase our intellectual capital through our research or teaching and community engagement activities, many stakeholders benefit.

These stakeholders include our staff, current and prospective students and their parents, the DHET, communities, donors, alumni, employers, business and industry and professional bodies.

Material matters are teaching and learning, research, community development, ability to govern, lead and manage, and information and communication technology.

There are risks related to academic matters, non-compliance with the standards and regulations of professional bodies, organisational change, ongoing transformation (such as decolonising the curriculum) and IT, university systems and commercialisation of our innovation and research results.

An ongoing concern is that students struggle with selfdirected learning, particularly online learning, underlining the importance of in-person support for at-risk students. Where possible, we integrate self-directed learning skills into our academic literacy training.

At the NWU, all first-year students take an academic literacy test and, depending on the results, may need to register for academic literacy modules such as academic writing, reading, computer and information literacy and study skills.

We offer extensive, value-adding academic support to students, including extended academic programmes, the University Preparatory Programme (UnivPrep), Supplemental Instruction (SI) and tutorial programmes. These programmes deliver good results:

• The overall student success rate for extended academic programmes, where students are given more time to complete their studies, is approximately 90%.
• Each year, more than 50% of successful UnivPrep participants become eligible to apply for formal studies in the faculties of Humanities, Theology and Economics and Management Sciences. UnivPrep is for prospective students who do not meet the admission requirements for specific formal degrees.
• In 2024, a total of 5 564 students in 75 at-risk modules received SI assistance from 91 SI leaders. Notably, 86% of attendees found the SI sessions valuable and would recommend them to peers, while 80% of the 84 lecturers involved with SI were satisfied with its implementation. The remaining 20% suggested making attendance mandatory and expanding SI support to additional modules.
• During the first semester, 131 tutors were appointed in 120 priority modules identified for additional tutorial assistance owing to the complexity of content and high rates of student discontinuation. In the second semester, 153 tutors were appointed in 127 modules. A total of 3 397 tutorials were held for the year, reaching 19 740 students. Lecturer satisfaction was high: 54% were very satisfied with the programme and 34% satisfied. They reported improved pass rates and greater confidence among students in navigating their coursework.
• Altogether 91 peer mentors were appointed during 2024, each of whom was expected to do peermentoring duties for 23 hours per month. Their role is to help first-year students integrate into the NWU community, develop essential social and academic skills, and foster an inclusive environment that reduces dropout rates and supports diverse student groups.
• A total of 560 academic advising sessions were held from January to June 2024, and we made progress in drafting an Academic Advising Guiding Framework for the NWU, proposing many opportunities or training and development.

The First Year Experience (FYE) programme recorded 17 095 in-person contacts with first-time entering students in 2024. In addition, the First Year Navigator (FYN) platform on the NWU's learning management system received 6 968 views by 4 755 users. The goal of the FYE initiative is to improve and support student success  by familiarising students with the higher education environment and the available academic development and support services.

Our contact student success rate was 85,8% for undergraduate and postgraduate students combined. Our distance student success rate (also combining undergraduate and postgraduate students) was 93,67%.

How much value we created, compared to previous years:

Academic performance	2022	2023	2024
Contact student success rate (undergraduate and postgraduate students combined)	84,7%	84,14%	85,8%
Undergraduate degree graduation duration factor	1,08	1,11	1,12
Graduation rate*	25,4%	22,43%	23,54%

* Where the education offering of an institution consists mostly, but not exclusively, of three-year programmes, it is expected that approximately a third of any cohort should graduate.

How much value we created, compared to our targets:

Academic performance	Target	Definition	Actual
Contact student success rate (undergraduate and postgraduate students combined)	87%	Based on HEMIS data. Completed FTEs divided by enrolled FTEs on a module level	85,8%
Undergraduate degree graduation duration factor	1,2	Based on HEMIS data. The time (in years) it takes a student to graduate divided by the minimum time to complete the qualificatio	1,12

• There has been an increase in team-teaching, where academics use the technology and equipment in lecture venues to reach students across campuses. This is part of our commitment to ensure all students have access to equivalent resources and benefit from comparable high-quality teaching and learning. The faculties of Economic and Management Sciences and Humanities participated in several external programme reviews in 2024. Four programmes were commended by external evaluation panels, namely the BCom in International Trade, the BCom Honours in Economics with Risk Management, the BA in Public Governance with Public Administration, and the BA Honours in History. Other programmes that underwent external evaluation included the BMus degree (music); BA Honours in English (Mahikeng); BA Honours in English with Language and Literature (Potchefstroom); BA Honours in English with Language and Linguistics (Vanderbijlpark) and BA in Public Governance with Politics and Public Administration.
• In April, a comprehensive external thematic review was conducted of all Understanding the World (UTW) modules. In June, a post-external programme review of the Diploma in Coaching Science in the Faculty of Health Sciences was successfully concluded.
• Several internal programme evaluations were either initiated or carried over from 2023 for completion in 2024. More information on these evaluations can be found in the section on Governance matters.
• We began preparing for various accreditation visits in 2025. More information on these visits is available in the section on Governance matters. The digital classroom prototype initiative is ready for the next steps, which involve procuring the hardware, software and licences, as well as conducting testing. We began rolling out the Work Integrated and Service Learning (WISL) system, after piloting it for education and nursing students.
• The NWU micro-credentials framework was approved in 2024, preparing for just-in-time development for the world of work and lifelong learning. More information on the NWU's approach to microcredentials is available in the section on Governance structures of the NWU of the DHET report.

How much value we created, compared to our targets:

Output	Target	Definition	Actual
Graduates	14 377	Based on HEMIS data; number of graduates in the reporting year	13 563

It is vital to ensure all our offerings are nationally and internationally comparable, appropriately designed and incorporate accessible ICTs, including AI and machine learning. (Refer to the below section Future outlook, for more information on our approach to AI.)

We continue to further decolonise the curriculum, include African-appropriate sections of our offerings and find opportunities to promote multilingualism in teaching and learning.

AI has enormous potential in higher education and also poses substantial risks. Early in 2024, we established an AI Steering Committee, which developed a Framework Policy for AI at the NWU, a statement of intent on AI and Guidelines for the Ethical and Responsible Use of AI. We are now focusing on educating and informing staff and students about the responsible use of AI.

We are preparing to introduce a new learning management system (LMS). Implementation will begin in 2025 and in 2026, lecturers should be ready to use the new LMS for first-year modules. By the end of 2027, all modules should be on the new system.

To ensure that the NWU PQM remains agile and relevant, we will continue recalibrating the PQM review project.

When our researchers and innovators find affordable and workable solutions to societal problems, they increase our intellectual capital and create value for us and our stakeholders.

The number of NRF-rated researchers rose from 298 in 2022 to 323 in 2023 and 327 in 2024

The following table shows the numbers of researchers in the different rating categories:

How much value we created, compared to previous years:

Research	2021	2022	2023*
Publications per academic staff member	0,99	1,02	1,04
Weighted research output	2 958,062	2864,276	3133,323
*Please note that there is a two-year lag with regards the research output.

We have partnerships with prestigious institutions such as the Corporación Universidad de la Costa in Colombia, the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom and the University of Hong Kong in Asia, among others. Through our research collaborations with these and other partners, we co-chair collaborative research and innovation programmes and offer collaborative degrees, skills development opportunities and conduct international student recruitment and exchange.

We are part of multilateral international partnerships such as the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) and the Southern African-Nordic Centre (SANORD).

We continue to be an active partner in research collaborations within the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) bloc, and have knowledge-sharing and skills-sharing agreements with several BRICS universities.

The Open Access Colloquium held during International Open Access Week provided a platform for robust discussions on the future of open access publishing.

Commercialisation revenues were lower in 2024 than in 2023, but the number of new licences increased, presenting the prospect of future royalty income.

The Technology Transfer and Innovation Support (TTIS) office facilitated the NWU's relationships with industry partners, investors, government agencies and other institutions. The NWU The NWU hosted World IP 2024 in the North West Province at the request of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission and its partners, the National IP Management Office, Small Enterprise Development Agency, Technology Innovation Agency and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.

We also participated in the 2024 Science Forum South Africa in December at the CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria. The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Science Diplomacy Capital for Africa (SDCfA) co-hosted the event.

Some NWU highlights at the 2024 Science Forum were NWU-developed games such as Prof Petro Erasmus's Whartels® mathsgame for children, Prof Jaco Fouche's Commercium, introducing players to business and accounting transactions, and a range of educational games developed by Prof Byron Bunt and Dr Lance Bunt.

Also exhibited were the latest sustainable hydrogen energy solutions of the HySA Infrastructure Centre of Competence, located at the NWU, the Novel Surfactants Project of Dr Frans Smit from the Chemical Resource Beneficiation research group, and the 1Nngwe Project, led by Prof Chris Vorster, from the Centre for Human Metabolomics, highlighting developments to improve healthcare and diagnostics of rare diseases in infants.

The three most complex research output challenges we face are funding limitations, competition among universities for a limited pool of existing researchers and, despite our determined efforts to encourage all academics in all faculties to be research-active, the fact that a number of academics have yet to engage with research.

In terms of funding, our approach is to discover and tap into new sources of funding, maintain good relationships with funders and ensure that our sophisticated research infrastructure is well-maintained.

We updated the Innovation Fellowship programme, which was piloted in the previous year to encourage researchers to engage in innovation. In addition, we continued with the new IP incentive scheme to acknowledge the effort our inventors expend on the patent prosecution process.

Having strengthened the research ecosystem in 2024, we aim to build on these successes and continue supporting our researchers to deliver results with impact.

We are diligently striving to enlarge our pool of productive researchers and innovators across disciplines, and look forward to growth in the number of IP disclosures from the humanities and social sciences.

Creating optimal value through good governance and management is premised on our governance structures, approach to ethics, strategy, values, success model and APP.

These are part of our intellectual capital, along with the systems, processes, procedures and policies that support governance and management.

For more information about how our management activities increase our intellectual capital, refer to the report of the vice-chancellor and, for information about governance, read more in the section on governance supporting and protecting value.

ICTs and digital resources are part of our intellectual and manufactured capital as they underpin our core operations and support services.

Intellectual capital includes software, IT support services and the learning management system (LMS). Manufactured capital refers to our physical ICT infrastructure, including networks and hardware.

The demand for IT services is increasing year on year, with many platforms, including WiFi, the internet and the LMS, showing signs of high utilisation.

We expect this trend to continue as a result of the use of technology, which allows for greater student intakes.

Human capital is at the heart of our institution’s success, enabling excellence across all facets of the university. The expertise, innovation and dedication of our academics, support staff and students drive the transformation and growth necessary to achieve the ambitious goals in our strategic plan, Taking the NWU forward – 2024 and beyond.

We are realigning our organisational structure for the future so that we can respond more effectively to the evolving needs of higher education and deliver on our strategic objectives. The restructuring project prioritises aligning our people and processes with the NWU’s goals, creating an agile, collaborative and impactful institution.

Our staff are thought leaders, innovators and problem solvers who excel in their fields and embody the values and vision of the NWU. Recruiting, developing and retaining exceptional talent is central to our strategy. Through the skills and commitment of our staff, we build strong relationships with stakeholders, foster trust, unlock opportunities for collaboration and drive research and innovation that keeps the NWU competitive and impactful in a dynamic world.

Our staff and students are integral to every aspect of the university’s value chain, as outlined below.

The labour market requires graduates who have the technical, professional and life skills to adapt to the future world of work and become responsible global citizens. We are attuned to the holistic, all-round development of our students, and offer them opportunities to participate in social, cultural, arts and sport activities.

Student leadership and peer helper programmes assist us to be agile in creating a caring and inclusive environment for a diverse student community.

Students prepare for assessments, including sit-down assessments, with support from the academic faculties. Where needed, we provide for concessions such as extended writing time.

A wide range of career services are available to students, such as career and course counselling, psychometric assessments, leadership assessments and personal development programmes. These are provided through Student Counselling and Development (SCD), which also offers extensive psychosocial support, including emotional support (therapy/counselling), HIV testing and counselling and various social support initiatives. The Disability Rights Unit is on hand to assist students living with disability.

All students can access support services via the SCD website or the 24/7 psychological crisis line.

We provide opportunities for continuous upskilling, reskilling, development and training through internal and external development programmes.

In 2024, 54% of the training budget went on in-house programmes on digital transformation, emotional intelligence, report writing, courageous conversations, diversity training and the Women in Leadership programme.

An amount of R30,8 million was invested in study discount benefits for 924 staff and their dependents.

Learnerships in end-user computing and digital literacy were available to semi-skilled employees to enhance workplace adaptability.

We hosted 50 interns through the Presidential Youth Stimulus (PYES) programme, in collaboration with Universities South Africa.

We are committed to ensuring that all NWU researchers, emerging and established, have access to research support mechanisms such as research leave, as well as internal and external capacity-development opportunities. Topics covered include research methodologies, ethics and integrity, article writing, postgraduate supervision and supervision for student article writing. We also have an academic mentoring programme and assist researchers in preparing for NRF rating applications.

Library and Information Services offers advanced data and research skills to postgraduate students and researchers.

During 2024, more than R6,5 million was spent on training and grants for our researchers.

This included R3,034 million for the development of emerging researchers and R528 000 for advanced researchers awarded by the Universities Capacity Development Grant (UCDG).

UCDG funding of approximately R1,026 million enabled 39 staff members to complete their master’s or doctoral studies.

In addition, we received a UCDG contribution of R1,988 million to support open-access publishing agreements for 2024.

Relevant and inclusive programmes are available to all students, from academic support and career advice to wellness support services and skills development.

Campus healthcare centres, together with counselling and social welfare services, support our students’ overall physical and psychosocial well-being. The Altron HealthOne Connect platform was implemented in 2024 for student patient management and monitoring. Support for pregnant students has improved.

Social welfare projects such as the Meal-a-Day programme support students from disadvantaged socio‑economic backgrounds.

The campus disability rights units address the needs of students with disabilities.

The Thuso (Help) Crisis Line’s registered psychologists provide services that promote the psychological well-being of students, face to face or online.

We also provide crisis interventions to identify and support at-risk students.

Our student-to-staff ratio increased from 28,59 to 30,09 in 2024.

Our first-time entrant dropout rate has increased from 8,86% in 2023 to 9,35% in 2024.

How much value we created, compared to previous years:

Dropout rate	2022	2023	2024
First-time entrant dropout rate for contact degrees	9,79%	8,86%	9,35%

How much value we created, compared to our target:

	Target	Definition	Actual
Academic staff full-time equivalent ratio: students	28,2	This is based on HEMIS data and refers to the enrolled student full-time equivalent divided by the permanent instruction/research professionals full-time equivalent.	30,09
First-time entrant dropout rate for contact degrees	Below 13%	First-time entering students in contact degree qualifications who register in the reporting year but do not return in the next year.	9,35%

We have a holistic employee wellness assistance programme, managed through a well-equipped wellness team and an outsourced service provider, Life Health Solutions. The wellness team works closely with the Campus Health Care Centres to offer health services, and People and Culture has established a health forum offering incapacity guidance and support.

Staff and their dependants have round-the-clock access, at no cost, to experienced, registered counselling professionals, who assist with personal, family, work‑related, legal and financial problems.

How much value we created, compared to previous years:

	2022	2023	2024
African (%)	41,74%	44,66%	48,52%
Coloured (%)	7,39%	7,38%	7,02%
Indian (%)	1,62%	1,77%	1,78%
White (%)	49,25%	46,19%	42,68%

How much value we created, compared to our equity targets:

	2024 target	Actual
African (%)	45,3%	48,52%
Coloured (%)	7,9%	7,02%
Indian (%)	2,2%	1,78%
White (%)	425%	42,68%
Foreign nationals (%)	2,1%	2,34%

Good governance supports and protects our human capital and is an important part of the responsibilities of the Council, the Remuneration Committee, the People and Culture and Employment Equity Committee and the Student Life Oversight Committee.

We also have several policies on fair and just people management. These include policies on conflict of interest, governance oversight and management control, human rights, remuneration, performance management, staff learning and development, employment equity and disabilities.

Equitable access to ICT resources and services is essential as ICT is a key enabler of student success and staff effectiveness. Our ICT systems are well maintained across the three campuses and all staff and students have the necessary hardware, software and helpdesk support.

It is our responsibility to guarantee that our university stays financially sustainable for the benefit of current and future generations of staff and students working and studying at the NWU.

OUR SOCIAL AND RELATIONSHIP

We strive to advance societal progress, contribute to sustainable development and make a positive impact through teaching and learning, research and innovation and community engagement. Ultimately, our intention is to contribute to more sustainable, just and healthy communities.

In working towards this, we align community engagement with teaching, learning and research, build intentional relationships with local, national and international stakeholders, and practise active academic citizenship.