The North-West University (NWU) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

located on three campuses in

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom ( ; ), colloquially known as Potch, is an college town, academic city in the North West (South African province), North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstro ...

Mahikeng Mahikeng ( Tswana for "Place of Rocks"), formerly known as Mafikeng and alternatively known as Mafeking (, ), is the capital city of the North West province of South Africa. Close to South Africa's border with Botswana, Mafikeng is northeast ...

and

Vanderbijlpark Vanderbijlpark is an industrial city with approximately 95,000 inhabitants, situated on the Vaal River in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa. The city is named after Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer and industrialist. V ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The university came into existence through the merger in 2004 of the

Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education The Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (abbreviated as PU for CHE) was a South African university located in Potchefstroom. Instruction was mainly in Afrikaans. In 2004, the university was merged with other institutions to cr ...

, a large, historical university dating back to 1869, which also had a branch in Vanderbijlpark, and the University of North-West (formerly the University of Bophuthatswana). With its merged status, the North-West University became one of the largest universities in South Africa with the third largest student population (full-time and

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

) in the country. NWU ranks among top universities locally, in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and globally.

Campuses

*Mahikeng Campus *Potchefstroom Campus (main campus) *Vanderbijlpark Campus

Student profile

Alumni

Dirk Hermann Dirk Johannes Hermann (born 13 January 1972) is a South African labour executive. He is chief executive officer of Solidarity, an Afrikaans union. He has authored four books. Personal life Hermann is the son of Marthinus Nicolaas Hermann and Mo ...

, trade unionist * Katlego Maboe, television presenter * Gerhard Mostert, rugby player *

Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters Demi-Leigh Tebow ( ; née Nel-Peters; born 28 June 1995) is a South African model and beauty queen best known for winning the title of Miss Universe 2017. She was crowned Miss South Africa 2017, and the second Miss Universe winner from South ...

Miss Universe 2017 Miss Universe 2017 was the 66th Miss Universe pageant, held at The AXIS in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 26 November 2017. At the end of the event, Iris Mittenaere of France crowned Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa as Miss Unive ...

* Mamokgethi Phakeng, former vice-chancellor of the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

Arrie Rautenbach Arnold Rautenbach (born 27 March 1965) was the chief executive officer (CEO), of Absa Group Limited, a financial services conglomerate, with headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, and subsidiaries in eleven sub-Saharan countries. Prior to ...

, group CEO of

Absa Group Limited Absa Group Limited, commonly known and stylized simply as absa (formerly the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA) until 2005 and Barclays Africa Group Limited until 2018), is a multinational banking and financial services conglomerate ba ...

since March 2022 * Warren Whiteley, rugby player

Rankings

Faculties

The university is home to eight faculties: * Economic and Management Sciences ** Accounting Sciences ** Business and Governance (Business School) ** Economic Sciences ** Industrial Psychology and Human Resource Management ** Management Sciences ** Tourism * Education ** Language Education ** Psycho-Social Education ** Professional Studies in Education ** Mathematics, Science and Technology Education ** Commerce and Social Studies in Education * Engineering ** Chemical and Minerals Engineering ** Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering ** Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering ** Industrial Engineering * Health Sciences ** Human Movement Sciences ** Kinderkinetics ** Pharmacy ** Psychosocial Health ** Physiology ** Consumer Sciences ** Nutrition ** Occupational Hygiene ** Nursing * Humanities ** Communication Studies ** Government Studies ** Languages ** Music ** Philosophy ** Social Sciences * Law ** Mercantile Law ** Public Law ** Private Law * Natural and Agricultural Sciences ** Physical and Chemical Sciences ** Biological Sciences ** Geo- and Spatial Sciences ** Agricultural Sciences ** Mathematical and Statistical Sciences ** Computer Science and Information Systems ** Business Mathematics and Statistics ** Indigenous Knowledge Systems * Theology ** Christian Ministry and Leadership ** Ancient Language and Text Studies ** Research Unit for Reformational Theology

Chancellors

*Leruo Molotlegi, 2004–2019 *Anna Mokgokong, 2019–2025 (vice chancellor)

References

External links

North-West University
{{Coord, 26.693492, S, 27.093062, E, display=title Universities in North West (South African province) Public universities in South Africa Potchefstroom Mahikeng Business schools in South Africa 2004 establishments in South Africa Education in North West (South African province) Universities and colleges established in 2004