News Articles - Belgium Campus iTversity

A group of students stand outdoors beside a blue solar-powered vehicle while a presenter explains its internal components. The vehicle's upper panel is raised, revealing wiring and technical equipment, with a globe mounted above the structure. The demonstration takes place outside a green corrugated-metal building in bright daylight.

SOL INVICTUS puts AI-enabled solar car through its paces at Zwartkops

Belgium Campus iTversity and its SOL INVICTUS partners are evaluating an advanced AI-powered telemetry system ahead of the Sasol Solar Challenge.
The solution, developed by students in collaboration with industry and academic partners, makes it possible for their solar-electric race car and support vehicle to operate as a single connected mobility platform and will be live tested at Centurion-based Zwartkops Raceway as the team prepares for South Africa’s premier solar-powered motorsport event.
Sasol’s Solar Challenge is an eight-day biennial endurance event in which local and international engineering teams race custom, solar-powered vehicles across public roads in South Africa between 10 and 17 September. The race starts in Sasolburg and travels a minimum distance of about 2,500 km to Cape Town via Jeffreys Bay.

SOL INVICTUS puts AI-enabled solar car through its paces at Zwartkops Read More »

A white solar-powered vehicle with solar panels mounted across its top is parked in front of a paddock at a racing circuit. The vehicle displays logos for Open Window, UXI, Belgium Campus iTversity, CTU Training Solutions, and IMM Graduate School, with the number 60 visible on the side. A blue tent labelled "Solar Challenge Team" stands behind the vehicle, alongside covered pit garages.

Varsity teams gear up for Sasol Solar Challenge with innovative SOL-1

News Articles / Phillip Crafford

SOL INVICTUS Dynamics, a multi-institutional solar car team, is gearing up to compete in the Sasol Solar Challenge 2026 with its solar-electric vehicle, SOL-1.
The project brings together students, lecturers and industry mentors from Belgium Campus iTversity, CTU Training Solutions, IMM Graduate School and Open Window, in an initiative focused on sustainable engineering, innovation, and experiential learning.
The Sasol Solar Challenge is an eight-day biennial endurance event in which local and international engineering teams race custom, solar-powered vehicles across public roads in South Africa. The 2026 event takes place from 10 to 17 September, starting in Sasolburg and traveling a minimum distance of about 2,500 km toward Cape Town.

Varsity teams gear up for Sasol Solar Challenge with innovative SOL-1 Read More »

A metallic robotic arm and clenched fist emerge through the outline of the African continent, highlighted with a bright green border. The arm extends toward the viewer over a blue and purple background filled with electronic circuit patterns. To the left, the letters “AI” appear inside a stylized microchip graphic. The image uses blue, purple, and cyan tones to symbolize artificial intelligence, technology, and digital innovation in Africa.

AI breaks through to the other side

News Articles / Phillip Crafford

Artificial intelligence (AI) is mimicking dubious human behaviour – even if unintentionally – by escaping test environments to hack companies or blackmail people as the models seek to complete set tasks in any way possible.

This unintentional rogue behaviour is a byproduct of AI models relentlessly pursuing the tasks they have been given, sometimes in ways their developers never intended, experts say.
Jacqui Muller, Belgium Campus iTversity researcher and PhD candidate in computer science, says it is concerning that these models have gone rogue and are mimicking expert nefarious human behaviour in a bid to complete specific tasks, even though they aren’t breaking out of a supposedly controlled environment on purpose.

AI breaks through to the other side Read More »

People working at desktop computers in a modern open-plan office with large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a cityscape. Multiple workstations are visible, with computer monitors, keyboards, and office desks arranged throughout a bright, professional workspace. Natural light fills the office, and indoor plants are visible in the background.

The future of work is about reinvention, not redundancy

News Articles / Phillip Crafford

As artificial intelligence (AI) advances at remarkable speed, concerns about job displacement continue to dominate global discussion. However, the focus should not be on replacement, but reinvention.

A narrative of AI replacing large segments of the workforce, on the back of high-profile restructuring in the US tech sector, overshadows a more important facet of this technology. AI’s greatest value lies in enhancing human capability, not replacing it.

Across industries, organisations are discovering that AI delivers the greatest value when used to strengthen human capability, raise productivity and allow people to focus on work that depends on judgement, creativity and relationships.

The future of work is about reinvention, not redundancy Read More »

Three students sit at desks in a library, each wearing a virtual‑reality headset and interacting with digital content in the air. Laptops are open in front of them, and bookshelves line the background, illustrating a modern, technology‑enhanced learning environment.

Why SA schools must embrace technology and active learning

News Articles / Phillip Crafford

Technology has long played a part in education. The chalkboard appeared in 1890, the pencil became widespread a decade later, followed by radio a century ago, the overhead projector in 1930 and the photocopier in the late 1960s. The computer arrived in the 1980s and mobile devices have since made it possible for learners to access content anytime, anywhere.
Covid-19 moved everything online almost overnight. Technologies that might have taken years to adopt became mainstream in months, normalising digital learning for teachers and students.
It was not a perfect system, as many children were left behind due to unequal access to technology, and the solutions implemented as part of lockdown were not systems that were designed to teach foundational skills remotely. But it challenged the production-line model of learning. Students had to manage their own schedules, learn independently, find information themselves and develop digital skills. And then most of them went back to sitting in rows.

Why SA schools must embrace technology and active learning Read More »

Did Google spy on you?

News Articles / Phillip Crafford

A court case in the US over allegations that Google collected app-based activity and other information about users, even when they had opted out, has spread to SA, raising privacy concerns about how the search giant used South Africans’ activity.

In September 2025, a jury found Google liable on two California privacy claims and awarded $425.65 million in compensatory damages in the Rodriguez et al vs Google class action. Media reports indicate Google has denied the allegations and says it will appeal the ruling, meaning the litigation is not yet final and no compensation is currently being distributed.

Did Google spy on you? Read More »

A set of keys lies in the foreground, with two keychains showing the Google and Microsoft logos. In the background, several dark doors stand slightly open, each glowing with warm light from behind. Above the doors are icons representing different digital or business systems, including email, collaboration, cloud services, ERP, CRM, finance, and payments. The image symbolises access to multiple digital platforms through shared credentials or integrations.

24 billion record breach puts SMEs at greatest risk

News Articles / Phillip Crafford

Small businesses with inadequate IT support, which rely on single sign-on credentials for access to e-mail, accounting software and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, are the most at risk from a data breach containing 24 billion records, say two experts.

Cybernews researchers found an exposed Elasticsearch cluster – a high-performance database that stores, indexes and rapidly searches massive volumes of structured data – containing 24 billion records and more than 8.3TB of data. The database was exposed to the internet because of a configuration error, it says.

24 billion record breach puts SMEs at greatest risk Read More »

A group of four people stand in front of a blue SAICTA-branded backdrop. The person on the far left holds a framed certificate awarded to Jacqui Muller for winning the ICT Professional of the Year Award 2026. The second person from the left holds a glass trophy. All four individuals are smiling and posing for a celebratory photo.

SAICTA Honours Jacqui Muller as ICT Professional of the Year 2026

News Articles / Phillip Crafford

The South African ICT Association (SAICTA) is proud to announce Jacqui Muller as the recipient of the ICT Professional of the Year Award 2026, one of the flagship honours presented at the inaugural SAICTA ICT Excellence Awards Gala.

Selected from an exceptional field of nominees, Jacqui was recognised for her outstanding leadership, technical expertise, and long standing commitment to advancing South Africa’s digital ecosystem and practice Her career reflects a commitment to strengthening governance, driving innovation and fostering excellence across the country’s rapidly evolving digital economy.

SAICTA Honours Jacqui Muller as ICT Professional of the Year 2026 Read More »

A woman speaks into a microphone on stage while another person stands at a podium beside her in a formal presentation setting, with a projection screen and exit sign behind them.

Local Grade 7 learners get a chance to look to the future

News Articles / Phillip Crafford

Grade 7 learners at primary schools in Macassar and Somerset West were introduced to a wide range of careers and skills-based opportunities last week as their schools hosted back-to-back career days.

On Wednesday 27 May Firgrove Primary School hosted neighbouring Oklahoma Street and St Paul’s primary schools for a joint Life Orientation Club Expo.

Local Grade 7 learners get a chance to look to the future Read More »

A metallic humanoid robot rests its chin on its hand in a thoughtful pose, surrounded by floating translucent letters against a blue gradient background, suggesting artificial intelligence and digital processing.

What Capitec’s AI investment says about the future of higher education

News Articles / Phillip Crafford

South Africa’s biggest bank by customer numbers just told the market something every university in the country should pay serious attention to. It indicates a step change in the skills companies need, and the bank is taking charge of this upskilling.

Capitec‘s latest annual report shows a focus on artificial intelligence (AI) training, as it put 568 employees through cloud-focused learning last year with staff clocking nearly 43,000 hours on Udemy Business and Pluralsight. The bank is running its own masterclasses in SQL, Java and JavaScript, and has built internal “centres of mastery” across engineering, data and payments.

This is more than a skill investment story. While continuous upskilling remains a vital corporate responsibility, it signals how rapidly the capabilities required by industry are evolving, making it vital for higher education and industry to work together more closely. That is a gap that institutions of higher learning, private and public, increasingly need to address.

What Capitec’s AI investment says about the future of higher education Read More »