The North-West University (NWU) has rejected accusations of favouring students from outside the province over local prospective students.
The university poured cold water over the claims, describing them as false and reaffirmed its commitment to fair, transparent admissions as a public higher education institution, “whose policies and rules are governed in accordance with the country’s constitution.
NWU comments come after several groups of concerned community members staged a protest outside the Mahikeng campus, accusing the institution of accepting students from other provinces while snubbing prospective students from the province.
Speaking on YOU FM Newshour, the University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Sonia Swanepoel said that the institution’s admission criteria is in line with the realities governing all South African public universities, rejecting the claims in its entirety.
“We don’t have quotas; we don’t give preference to any students when we do our admissions.
It’s done solely on the students’ academic performance, so the best student stands a better chance to be selected and admitted.
Another fact to remember is that students apply to several universities so we cannot turn away students who apply on a basis of whether they come from Limpopo or any other provinces.
We are a public institution, have a responsibility and accountability to ensure access and success of students,” said Professor Swanepoel.
Furthermore, Swanepoel said that they acknowledge the frustrations that come with the process and failure of some prospective students to secure a space of learning at the university.
“We acknowledge the hope, anticipation, and anxiety that accompany this important milestone in the lives of prospective students and their families.
Access to higher education represents opportunity, aspiration, and a better future, and we recognize the deep emotional investment attached to these applications,” explained Professor Swanepoel.
The university has indicated that its Mahikeng campus has since the release of the Grade 12 results, experienced an unprecedented volume of enquiries and requests regarding late applications for the 2026 academic year, many of which originated from the Mahikeng and surrounding communities.
“As communicated previously we received more than 420 000 applications for the 2026 academic year, while there are only 11 800 spaces available for first-year students across our campuses.
As a result, late applications cannot be accommodated under any circumstances.
To this end, we will not allow any walk-in enquiries for applications,” stressed the Deputy Vice Chancellor.
