JOIN US FOR THE NWU EXCELLENCE AWARDS
NWU EXCELLENCE AWARDS
3 UNITS 2 PROVINCES 1AWARDS CEREMONY
2022-2023 | Live Event
23 November 2023
18:00 PM
ABOUT THE NWU
EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Excellence is one of the NWU's values, which the University believes is vital to achieving its vision of being a world-class institution of higher learning. Our core business values have its DNA. This yearly award ceremony is among the most treasured occasions in our university calendar. It honours all our excellent academics across our three legs of the core business: Research and Innovation, Community Engagement and Teaching and Learning. This auspicious occasion not only allows NWU to celebrate the achievements of these academics but also provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the preceding year and address all our stakeholders.
We have many reasons to celebrate. This academic year has brought stability to our patterns of research, teaching, learning and community engagement, allowing our staff to interact in person with colleagues and communities and to be able to teach face-to-face. Thanks to technology, this year has also seen upgrades and transformations in teaching practices and improvements in engagement and experience. We have also joyfully watched as our students graduate in person after the COVID-19 pandemic put a screeching halt in ceremonies. As things are slowly returning to normal, it is worth reflecting on and celebrating the achievements of the past academic year.
Through these awards, the University wants to applaud colleagues' fortitude in the face of complex changes. We want to acknowledge our dedicated staff for being able to continually adapt to the demands, remain resilient and successfully integrate technology and other demands into their teaching methods. As a result of your dedication, the NWU can continue to seamlessly deliver excellent education amidst the mounting pressure of severe load shedding while also contributing to solutions to the crisis that faces us.
These awards acknowledge the commitment of staff to excellence in research, learning, and community activities. You truly enacted the University's ethos of excellence, integrity, and a performance culture. In addition, these awards symbolise sacrifices, a positive attitude and commitment on your part.
As we continue to build a culture of excellence in the University in line with our values, these awards should inspire the entire university community to excel. Ralph Marston once said, "Excellence…is not an act, but a habit." Thank you for making excellence a habit.
THE AWARDS
Community Engagement Awards
Community engagement is part of our core business and is integrated into the university’s annual performance plan, our purpose and dream. The North-West University aims to make “an ethic of care” and “continuously contributing to social justice” part of our DNA and the graduates we deliver.
As such, we do not focus on charity only but aspire to enhance what our external partners are doing by utilising our expertise to find solutions to challenges faced by our communities. In fact, North-West University's core business activities can only be regarded as significant and sustainable if we, as the academic partner, succeed in actively engaging with our communities of interest and communities of practice to ensure that both the university’s expertise and the rich experiences of the people we serve are put to best possible use. Our drive towards sustainability goes beyond just focussing on ‘going green’ and has strong emphasis on social improvement and engagement that can empower our communities. One way of obtaining more permanent impact on the research agenda at the university can be through organising research activities based on the requests for advice from the user groups. Moving towards a stronger more scholarly approach for community engagement, a final renewing activity is the development of new course modules within community-oriented research and development, that is supported by teaching and learning.
NWU Teaching Excellence Awards
The North-West University is renowned for Teaching Excellence, a display of the most esteemed and celebrated university educators in South Africa. At the North-West University, academic members, as university teachers, are annually invited to showcase excellent teaching contributions, by participating in the NWU Teaching Awards. Six new teaching awards were implemented in 2021, and a seventh award in 2023.
The rationale for diversifying the teaching awards was to embrace diversity to create a platform for a larger group of academics to display their excellence in various fields of teaching and learning practices. More so, excellence in teaching is measured in various forms through these new awards. Embracing diversity in the teaching awards further contributes toward the inclusion of teachers in the university community and celebrates the uniqueness of each university teacher while remaining respectful of different cultures and teaching practices.
The seven types of teaching awards include Faculty Teaching Award, Teaching with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Award, Innovation in Teaching and Learning Award, Online Teaching Award, Novice Teacher Award, Team Teaching Award and the University Teaching Excellence Award (UTEA). As NWU Teaching Awards are part of the rewards and recognition programme, the value of excellence in all endeavours is shared, striving towards the achievement of high-quality standards in all doings that meet personal, university, community, as well as social expectations. In doing so, the NWU Teaching Awards promote and sustain a passion among academics for continuous learning, professional development in their career, as well as innovation in teaching and learning while maintaining a positive and productive work ethic, striving toward outputs and contributions that improve the quality of teaching and learning. In addition, we use it as an evaluative pedagogy to deepen our understanding of challenges and successes in the learning, teaching, and assessment space in the university arena.
Research and Innovation Awards
The NWU Excellence Awards in the domain of Research and Innovation recognise outstanding achievements of various categories of academics, from young and upcoming to emerging and seasoned, including academics with new and upgraded NRF ratings. The excellent performance of postgraduate students, our next generation of scientists, is celebrated by awarding the Vice Chancellor’s medal for the best master’s degree student in all Faculties to acknowledge efforts of study leaders and other academics in creating and sustaining a nurturing environment for these students. The S2A3 award for the best master’s degree is granted to a student in one of the three (3) Faculties: Engineering, Health Sciences, or Natural and Agricultural Sciences.
THE SPEAKERS
Rethabile G.M. Dube
MC
Dube is a dynamic and vibrant voiceover artist as well as an amateur cyclist.
He holds a degree in Economics and International Trade and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management. He works in the office of the DVC T-L and is aspiring to complete a Master's while pursuing a part-time career in farming.
Mr Rethabile Dube
MC
Awaiting Bio
Professor Bismark Mzubanzi Tyobeka
VC & MAIN SPEAKER
Prof. Mzubanzi Bismark Tyobeka currently holds the position of Principal and Vice-Chancellor at the North-West University (NWU). He oversees the university's core activities, including Teaching and Learning, Research and Innovation, and Community Engagement. Before this role, Prof. Tyobeka held the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the National Nuclear Regulator of South Africa from September 2013 to May 2022.
With a nuclear career spanning 22 years, he has worked in various capacities, including as a reactor physicist at Eskom Enterprises, a Senior Physicist at Eskom Enterprises, Chief Nuclear Engineering Analyst at PBMR Pty Ltd, and Nuclear Engineer and Unit Head at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria. During his time at the IAEA, he advised multiple countries on the development of nuclear power programmes across Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He has also held visiting scholar positions at the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group in the Netherlands and the International Research Associate at Idaho National Laboratory, United States of America (USA).
Prof. Tyobeka previously served as the Chairperson of the North-West University Council from March 2017 to March 2022 and has been involved in numerous high-profile national and international governance roles. Notably, he served as a Member of the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG), appointed by the IAEA Director-General from 2016 to 2020. He is currently the Chairman of the Regulatory Cooperation Forum under the IAEA and a member of the IAEA's Technical Working Group on Nuclear Knowledge Management.
Furthermore, he was elected President of the 6th Review Meeting of Contracting Parties to the Convention on the Safety of Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (Joint Convention), presiding over the meeting from 21 May to 01 June 2018, with a continued three-year term.
Prof. Tyobeka was also appointed by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) as a member of the South African Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction from 01 July 2019 to 30 June 2024.
He holds several degrees, including a Master’s and PhD in Nuclear Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, USA, a Master’s in Applied Radiation Science and Technology from the North-West University, South Africa, a Master’s in Management with a specialisation in Project Management from Colorado Technical University, USA, and a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and Chemistry from the North-West University, South Africa. Additionally, Prof. Tyobeka was recently appointed as an Adjunct Professor in Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in the USA and serves as a member of the Nuclear Engineering Advisory Council (NEDAC) at NCSU. He was also appointed as the Chair of the USAF Funding Strategy Group in June 2023.
Professor Linda Du Plessis
SPEAKER
Professor Linda du Plessis is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Planning and Campus Business affairs of the North-West University (NWU). She is also the Vice-principal. After starting her career in Information Technology as a programmer, she left industry to teach in the higher education sector. She obtained her Master’s degree in Information Technology in 1994 and in 2002 she completed her PhD at the then PU for CHE and a second Doctorate at the University of Bath (UK) in 2020.
She has served as a speaker at various national and international conferences; postgraduate students are guided and served on the editorial board of academic journals; and are also a member of the South African Institute for Institutional Research. In 2009, she joined the North-West University.
She is passionate about education, believes firmly in lifelong learning and was recently honoured by Emerald publishers for her contribution to leadership.
Professor Sonia Swanepoel
AWARDS PRESENTER
The North-West University Council appointed Prof Sonia Swanepoel as the new Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Community Engagement and Mahikeng Campus Operations during its meeting on 18 November 2021. She will serve a three-year term. As an industrial psychologist, Prof Swanepoel has extensive knowledge and experience in various areas of teaching and learning, research and innovation, community engagement and management.
Before her appointment as Deputy Vice-Chancellor, she was Executive Dean of the NWU’s Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences for four years. Prof Swanepoel has also previously served as the Executive Dean of the former Faculty of Commerce and Administration in Mahikeng. She conducted consulting for various companies both nationally and internationally and held various positions at the Tshwane University of Technology, including that of dean and head of department. She also was a lecturer, senior lecturer and principal lecturer at Technikon Pretoria from 1982 until 2003.
Prof Swanepoel holds BCom and BCom Hons degrees in Personnel Management MCom and DCom degrees in Human Resources Management from the University of Pretoria as well as a Higher Education Diploma from UNISA. In addition she completed the Assessor Training Program of City and Guilds Training and Consultancy in London.
She is part of various professional organisations, including the Health Professions Council of South Africa and the Psychology Association of South Africa for Industrial Psychology. She was the chairperson of the higher-education committee of the South African Board of People Practices (SABPP) from 2011 to 2015. In addition, Prof Swanepoel was a SABPP board member until 2015 and is a chartered human resources professional of this organisation.
Prof Swanepoel has presented many articles at international conferences and published various articles and reports in accredited journals, as well as in other journals. She reviews articles for international journals and conferences.
Through her guidance and mentoring, nine students have obtained their PhD degrees and 16 their master’s degrees. She examines PhD’s and Masters degrees for various universities. She reviews programmes for the Council of Higher Education (CHE) both nationally and internationally.
PROFessor JEFFREY MPHAHLELE
AWARDS PRESENTER
Professor Jeffrey Mphahlele is the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the North-West University. He is a medical scientist with a PhD in Medical Virology. He is an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). His research publications cover epidemiology, vaccination control of infectious diseases and strengthening immunisation services and policies. Prior to joining the NWU, he was the Vice President for Research at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) (Oct 2014 to June 2021). He was a full-time academic at MEDUNSA (later University of Limpopo Medunsa Campus) in various capacities: Professor and Academic Chair of the Department of Virology and National Health Laboratory Service (2005 to Sep 2014) and Co-Director of the SAMRC/Diarrhoeal Pathogens Research Unit, which is a WHO Rotavirus Regional Reference Laboratory for Africa (2010 to March 2018). He trained, supervised, and mentored several Post-Doctoral, Doctoral and Master students as a contribution towards developing the next generation of researchers. He currently serves as the Chairperson of the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) and Vice-Chairperson of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) Board, member of the WHO Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) Polio Working Group, and South African NITAG (National Advisory Group on Immunisation – NAGI). He is a former member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 vaccines and the Committee for Medical Science of Medical and Dental Professions Board of the Health Professions Council of South Africa. He previously served on various governance structures nationally and internationally.
Professor Robert J. Balfour
AWARDS PRESENTER
Professor Robert John Balfour read English and History for a BA, a BA Hons in English (1993), and an HDE in 1994 at Rhodes University. He read for a Masters degree in English and Education at the University of Natal which was completed with distinction in 1995. Balfour was made the recipient of a Commonwealth Trust Scholarship in 1997 and completed his doctoral degree in English language (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University in 2000). Working initially English Studies (creative writing and applied linguistics) at the University of Natal, he was in 2004 appointed as Acting Head of School at a critical phase in the post-incorporation of Edgewood Teacher Training College with the University Faculty of Education.
Appointed in 2005, as Head of the new School of Languages Education (at the University of KwaZulu-Natal), Balfour went on to transform the School, during two terms as Head of School, before being appointed as Registrar to St Augustine College of South Africa from 2008-2010. He has held three fellowships at the Institute for Commonwealth Studies at the University of London (2003-5), Clare Hall at Cambridge University (2003), and the Institute of Education at the University of London (2014). He has edited three collections of academic essays in three international language journals, published in five scholarly books, edited five books on education, language, and literature. The book on literary-cultural studies Culture Capital and Representation (with Palgrave, 2010) was received with critical acclaim. In 2015 the book, Education in a new South Africa: crisis and change was published by CUP.
Focusing on language learning and literacy, rural education, and post-colonial literature he has also featured widely in the popular press for perspectives on multilingualism and education. In 2011 he was appointed as Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Education Sciences on the Potchefstroom Campus of NWU before being appointed as DVC (Teaching and Learning) in mid-2017. A co-edited book on Self-directed Learning in the era of the Covid-19 Pandemic: research on the affordances of online virtual excursions was published by Aosis Publishers in 2022.
Professor Jeffrey Mphahlele
AWARDS PRESENTER
Professor Jeffrey Mphahlele is the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the North-West University. He is a medical scientist with a PhD in Medical Virology. He is an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). His research publications cover epidemiology, vaccination control of infectious diseases and strengthening immunisation services and policies. Prior to joining the NWU, he was the Vice President for Research at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) (Oct 2014 to June 2021).
He was a full-time academic at MEDUNSA (later University of Limpopo Medunsa Campus) in various capacities: Professor and Academic Chair of the Department of Virology and National Health Laboratory Service (2005 to Sep 2014) and Co-Director of the SAMRC/Diarrhoeal Pathogens Research Unit, which is a WHO Rotavirus Regional Reference Laboratory for Africa (2010 to March 2018). He trained, supervised, and mentored several Post-Doctoral, Doctoral and Master students as a contribution towards developing the next generation of researchers. He currently serves as the Chairperson of the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) and Vice-Chairperson of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) Board, member of the WHO Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) Polio Working Group, and South African NITAG (National Advisory Group on Immunisation – NAGI).
He is a former member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 vaccines and the Committee for Medical Science of Medical and Dental Professions Board of the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
He previously served on various governance structures
nationally and internationally.
THE ENTERTAINMENT
NWU Big Band
The NWU big band is a large format jazz ensemble utilising the classic instrumentation of the popular bands of the swing era. The band was formed in 2016 with the intention of providing a vehicle for the students’ more contemporary musical interests, and to foster a love for classic jazz music.
While big band swing is our focus, we regularly play a variety of styles including, South African, Latin American, funk, rock, pop, and fusion music. The big band is not a formal part of the curriculum, and its members attend voluntarily, consisting of students of the NWU School of Music, students from various other faculties, as well as alumni of the NWU. We have been privileged to perform at concerts and functions at the NWU and to the public in Potchefstroom, even touring Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, and Makhanda on occasion.
The NWU big band looks forward to expanding their activity in the communities of the North-West, and to sharing the purpose and values of the NWU through music.
