Delivery sites
Dream, purpose, values
Our Dream
To be an internationally recognised university in Africa, distinguished for engaged scholarship, social responsiveness and an ethic of care.
Our Purpose
To excel in innovative learning and teaching and cutting-edge research, thereby benefitting society through knowledge.
Our Brand Promise
Dynamic. Values-driven. Excellence.
Values
NWU will foster engaged and caring staff and students and embed the following foundational values, based on the constitutional values of human dignity, equality and freedom:
- Ethics in all endeavours
- Academic integrity
- Academic freedom and freedom of scientific research
- Responsibility, accountability, fairness and transparency
- Embracing diversity.
Our symbol: Meet Eagi
We, as the NWU, pride ourselves on offering high-quality academic programmes and a vibrant student life. Keeping that in mind, there is no better symbol than our mascot, Eagi, to represent the brand attributes of a unitary NWU. The eagle has a positive meaning across many cultures. It represents positive traits that perfectly match the NWU’s strategy and objectives. They include success, aspiration, courage, expansion, renewed life, leadership and freedom.
Our students and staff are leaders and visionaries who focus strongly on excellence in teaching and learning, and research and innovation.
Eagi symbolises our commitment to approaching life creatively and soaring above the rest. He reflects our talent for finding new opportunities to excel and continuously improve.
Eagi also embodies the importance of implementing ethics in everything we do, reflecting the value-driven nature of the NWU.
History of the NWU
The NWU officially came into being on 1 January 2004 as part of the South African government’s plan to transform higher education. In our case, this saw a historically white university and a historically black university merging to create a new university where South Africans from all walks of life have come together.
The historically black university was the former University of North-West, whose students were mostly black people from rural communities. The historically white university was the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, whose students were mostly white Afrikaans people from Christian backgrounds. A third party was the Sebokeng Campus of another mainly black university, Vista, whose staff and students were incorporated.
Their coming together to form the North-West University (NWU) was a strong symbolic act of reconciliation and nation building – and a highly effective one. The transition to the unified NWU has been hailed as one of the most successful and stable higher education mergers in South Africa. Each year since the merger, the NWU has produced a healthy financial surplus, improved student pass rates, increased research output and risen in the corporate governance rankings for South African universities.
This stability reflects the culture of consultation at the NWU, our clear vision, values and mission, our effective governance and leadership, and the well-defined strategic and operational plans we have made to take the NWU into the future.