Welcome

The mission of the Optentia Research Focus Area is to develop and organise knowledge for the optimal expression of individual, social and institutional potential, with specific interest in the African context. The research programme utilises the inputs from various disciplines in the social sciences, including Psychology, Industrial/Organisational Psychology, Human Resource Management, Educational Psychology, Sociology, Educational Sciences, Employment Relations, and Social Work.

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Symposia

Developing supports for the learning needs of all learners - 09 to 10 July 2018

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Dealing with Unemployment in South Africa: Research and Intervention - 13 to 14 September 2018

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Recent news

Spring news from the UK and the Netherlands

Prof. Jaco Hoffman is currently in the UK at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing (OIPA), University of Oxford where he is a James Martin Senior Research Fellow. Since he arrived in the UK he participated in the  Read article

Constructive journalism build strong societies

Ask any news editor: good news does not sell newspapers. Prof Hans Henrik Knoop, extraordinary professor at the Optentia research focus area on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) campus in Vanderbijlpark, warns about ...Read article

Qhubekela Phambili: Moving forward with the intervention programme

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa recently unveiled the recovery plan to set South Africa on a new growth path. In his State of the Nation Address in February 2018, President Ramaphosa stated that the South African economy...Read article

Gerontology: Adding life to years of older people in Africa

Within the next 30 years the number of older people in Africa will grow from 46 million to 170 million. This is the problem that the continent will be facing by 2050, said Prof Jaco Hoffman from the Optentia research focus area at...Read article

Newsletter, March 2018