In the context of South Africa as a democratic developmental state, the need for service delivery, the human rights enshrined in the Constitution of South Africa, 1996, as well as the challenges and priorities outlined in the National Development Plan: Vision for 2030, the government faces an array of socio-economic challenges. In addition, service delivery protests in the local sphere of government, political uncertainty, and widespread corruption paint a picture that is detrimental to the fulfilment of the social contract. Within this framework, the School of Government Studies aims to approach these societal issues through a scholarly lens in our teaching and learning, research and innovation, community engagement, and stakeholder relations.

Our vision is to instil exemplary scholarly knowledge, outstanding research skills and intellectual curiosity in our students, and develop and encourage them to be socially conscious, service oriented, ethical, and exhibit leadership in their communities. Therefore, in all our endeavours, we encourage our students to actively engage in societal issues, considering their social responsibilities and a commitment to social justice, democracy, human rights, and socio-economic development.

Our programme offerings are scholarly and theory based. In addition, we capacitate our students to apply scholarly theory to find practice-based solutions and aim to prepare them not only for the workplace, but also to also become engaged citizens with a passion for service and social justice. Our efforts in teaching and learning, research and innovation, community engagement, and stakeholder relations are on being locally and regionally relevant, yet internationally competitive.

The School of Government Studies’ Footprint

The School of Government Studies offers aligned programmes on all three sites of learning of the North-West University (NWU), namely

• the Mahikeng Campus (MC),
• the Potchefstroom Campus (PC) and
• the VanderbijlparkCampus (VC)

The School of Government Studies comprises of the following subject groups:

• Political Studies and International Relations
• Public Administration

The different fields of study covered in our programmes are as follows:

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