Quick Facts
- Area: 104,882 km2
- Population Est: 4,122,854
- Density: 680/km2
- Languages:
- Tswana (70.4%)
- Afrikaans (9.0%)
- Sesotho (5.8%)
- Xhosa (5.5%)
- Tsonga (3.7%)
- English (3.5%)
- Zulu (2,5%)
- Pedi (2.4%)
- Capital: Mahikeng
- Kgatleng – far northeast
- South-East – northeast
- Southern – north
- Kgalagadi – northwest
- Limpopo – northeast
- Gauteng – east
- Free State – southeast
- Northern Cape – southwest
- Basketball
- North West Eagles (Potchefstroom)
- Rugby union
- Platinum Leopards (Rustenburg)
- Soccer
- Platinum Stars (dissolved) (Rustenburg)
- Netball
- North West Flames (Potchefstroom)
- Softball
- Generations Softball club (Klerksdorp)
The province had two universities: the University of North West, which was formerly called the University of Bophuthatswana (founded in 1979), in Mmabatho; and Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (founded in 1869; became a constituent college of the University of South Africa in 1921 and an independent university in 1951). These two universities have now merged and the new institution is called North-West University.
As part of the Department of Education’s proposed plans for higher education, the existing four higher learning institutions will be merged to form two. During 2003, as part of the Year of Further Education and Training project, three mega institutions, Taletso, ORBIT and Vuselela, were established to provide technical and vocational training to the youth. These institutions have been incorporated into many of the former education and technical colleges and manpower centres.
