General News

31/07/2019 Farewell Mr. Jan Rombouts It is with heavy hearts but fond memories that we bid farewell to Mr. Jan Rombouts, who will be leaving Belgium Campus at the end of this month to take up his retirement in Belgium. Mr. Rombouts, the visionary who founded Belgium Campus, played a pivotal role at the ITversity from its inception in 1999 until present day and we cannot express enough gratitude for the work he has done as founder and executive chairman. Mr. Rombouts, along with Mrs. Rombouts and Belgium Campus CEO, Mr. Jacobs, established Belgium Campus in 1999. The property, originally Mr. Rombouts private property and family home, was transformed brick by brick into the institution you see today. “Jan literally placed the first brick when we started building the campus,” Mr. Jacobs said with a smile. Mr. Rombouts and Mr. Jacobs transformed the ITversity from a mere idea into the recognised institution it is today. “Everything that needed to be done was done by them, whether it was plumbing, putting electricity in, building, admin work, teaching, marketing, accounting, they did everything themselves,” explained COO, Natasja Rombouts. The notion of family and the values that come with it have always been extremely important to Mr. Rombouts and it was around these values that Belgium Campus was built. This notion is still an instrumental part of Belgium Campus culture today and we hope that it will continue to be for years to come. Mr. Rombouts led by example when it came to these values, making sure everyone felt happy and comfortable on campus and that it felt like a home away from home. Mr. Rombouts wore a number of hats during his time at Belgium Campus. He played a major role marketing the institution, securing collaboration with major national and international industry partners and universities to ensure positive growth of the institution and international opportunities for students. He also founded the Business Club South Africa in Belgium, which further drove these goals by increasing the Belgium Campus network and encouraging industry partners to start businesses in South Africa. As the institution grew he handed his marketing hat over and began to focus on the campus infrastructure and developing the estate, something which was always a passion of his. These developments extended to the creation of Belgium Campus’ two additional campuses in Kempton Park and Port Elizabeth. “He is a very proactive person, when he sees something that others may define as a problem, he takes action and makes sure that it is solved, sometimes too quickly!” laughed Mrs. Rombouts. Mr. Rombouts 20 years of experience in prestigious executive positions around the world before coming to South Africa, including being founder of Vidcom and Innes Telecom NV, equipped him with a brilliant understanding of how to start a business and more importantly how to meet customer needs. It is this experience that has ensured that Belgium Campus students are able to enjoy a 100% employment rate post-graduation. He created an environment that promotes knowledge valorisation and innovation, allowing students to comfortably perform at a level appreciated by industry. Mr. Rombouts will be remembered for his relentless drive to succeed and achieve. “There were a couple of times where Belgium Campus almost ended due to external misfortunes; what I learned from Jan during this time was to turn problems into challenges worth solving,” commented Mr. Jacobs. Mr. Rombouts took this principle one step further by actively seeking out problems because problems require solutions and finding these solutions leads to growth. “He said to me: Enrico, if you don’t build a new classroom you will stand still. I turned back to him and said, but we don’t have the students for it. He said, but if you don’t have the classroom you won’t get the students, once you have an empty classroom you will have to fill it!” Mr. Rombouts quest for growth and success only comes to fruition when he is able to lead those around him to succeed and grow, something he was able to accomplish many times at Belgium Campus. Mr. Rombouts kindness, unrelenting positive attitude and quest to uplift will be missed by all. He has promised to come back and visit, and the Belgium Campus family will be holding him to this! On behalf of the Belgium Campus family we would like to say thank you Mr. Rombouts for everything you have done, we wish you nothing but success and happiness as you begin this new chapter. This is not goodbye, but see you later!

A Note from the Administrative Dean We have entered the second half of the 2019 academic year and I believe it is important to reflect on the achievements of the first semester. 41 Belgium Campus ITversity students participated in 6 different international projects in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Sydney and University Colleges Leuven-Limburg. The participating students have made us tremendously proud with the results they achieved. They are true ambassadors of not only Belgium Campus but also South Africa. Our students further represented South Africa on the international stage during this year’s Hack the Waste hackathon on the 9th and 10th of May 2019. 9 Belgium Campus students participated together with University Colleges Leuven-Limburg (Belgium), Doba Business School (Slovenia), Fontys School of Information and Communication Technology (Netherlands) and Banku Augstskola (Latvia). Three of our students were part of the winning team who came together to help solve the global waste problem, your achievements do not go unnoticed! Over the last two examination blocks we have witnessed amazing results across all three of our campuses. With these results combined we have seen an 86% qualification rate for the examinations. 3178 examinations have been written with 2828 (89%) passed and 1311 distinctions obtained. The above achievements are a true reflection of not only the commitment and dedication of our academic staff but more importantly the hard work and dedication of our students as they strive for excellence, amplifying our philosophy of breathing together to breed excellence. On behalf of academic management, congratulations to our students for their achievements thus far. We wish you the best for the second semester. With your continued hard work and dedication your academic results can only improve, after all, that’s the way we’re wired!

Introducing Dr. Wernher Friedrich Botlhale Village Head Lecturer This year Belgium Campus welcomed charismatic, multifaceted Dr. Wernher Friedrich into the Belgium Campus family. He is the new head lecturer at Belgium Campus’ research and innovation hub, Botlhale Village, a position that allows him to showcase both his research and development expertise, as well as his seamless ability to bring this research to life through his lectures. Dr. Friedrich holds an impressive set of qualifications namely: a BCom in Information Systems, a BSc Hons in Computer Science, a MSc in Computer Science and a PHD in Computer Science with a specialisation in neurology and telecommunications. He has been in the IT environment for over 20 years, making use of his IT expertise within a number of fields, including: medical, education, government, banking and insurance. This experience has equipped him with the ability to effectively bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and practical implementation, and explain this in a way that is easily grasped by those he lecturers. He believes in teaching students to use “in the box tools (theory), to solve out of the box problems (world issues).” He is using this principle to enrich the curriculum at Belgium Campus, to ensure that our qualifications remain timeless. His research is currently focused on two main areas, both of which relate to integrated domains. The first area involves the investigation of neurological brain patterns and communication protocols and the second involves the investigation of cancer cells and the frequencies related to them. Both these ventures make use of the principals of computer science in order to develop a solution to the problems at hand. In addition to the above, he also spearheads a number of groundbreaking projects at Botlhale Village. One such project termed EcoDrive, which is currently being developed, is a highly collaborative and innovative eco driving engine. The engine will allow collaboration between companies, graduates and industry experts in an effort to fuel idea formation and IP development, with the end goal of increased knowledge valorization, job creation and economic growth. Dr. Friedrich stresses that as IT continues to evolve and grow, so will he, “my experience, skills and background have prepared me for the numerous roles and challenges that companies and industry face on a daily basis and if I require knowledge in a certain area, I will learn and incorporate it into my foundation to make it stronger and more versatile as time goes on.” We have no doubt that Dr. Friedrich will help provide a strong foundation both for Belgium Campus’ curriculum, as well as for the innovative projects that continue to mushroom from Botlhale Village. We, along with our students, are excited for the future!

Will Belgium Campus Win the Cup? Belgium Campus has been invited to take part in the 2019 Entelect Challenge University Cup on the 3rd of August 2019. “This will be our first year taking part in the challenge and I am thrilled that we received an invitation,” beamed Administrative Dean, Thinus Kritzinger. The challenge is a team-based hackathon, where students in teams of 2 or 3 are challenged to create solutions to a coding problem. It provides a unique opportunity for students to showcase their coding capabilities in a fun and rewarding way, while also preparing them for future hackathons like the main Entelect Challenge. The challenge is open to any undergraduate students registered at a South African University and institutions from across the country have been invited to take part virtually. This will not be Belgium Campus’ first hackathon. Belgium Campus has participated in a number of hackathons including Hack the Waste, as well as the Google Hash Code hackathon where we placed 4th in South Africa. Kritzinger encourages all students to take part in the upcoming challenge, “I believe our students are more than capable of excelling at this challenge and I encourage students from all our campuses and from all years of study to participate.” The challenge will take place between 8:30am and 3pm and there are a number of prizes up for grabs. Each member of the winning team will receive a gaming laptop, tickets to Comic Con Africa to attend the main Entelect Challenge, as well as some of the latest IoT devices for their university’s lab. The prizes will be awarded to the winning team at Comic Con Africa in September. Registrations open on the 22nd July 2019 and your teams must be formed on the portal by 12pm, midday, on the 2nd of August 2019. For more information or to register, go to the following link: https://challenge.entelect.co.za/portal

June Exam Results Congratulations to our students for receiving an overall qualification rate of 85% and an overall pass rate of 87% for the past June exams. We are extremely proud of all of you and we are excited for the term ahead. Our Tshwane campus wrote a total of 1238 exams and received an 83% percent qualification rate and an 86% pass rate. Our Ekurhuleni campus wrote a total of 402 exams and received a 90% percent qualification rate and a 91% pass rate. Our Nelson Mandela Bay campus wrote a total of 121 exams and received an 84% percent qualification rate and a 92% pass rate. Exam reviews will take place on the 16th and the 23rd of August 2019. If you would like to have your results reviewed by a senior lecturer, please apply through your Canvas portal before the 2nd of August 2019. We are more than halfway through the year and the finish line is in site, continue to work hard and make us, your parents and most importantly yourselves proud.

Entering July with a Masterclass The IBM Masterclass, took place at Belgium Campus’ Pretoria campus on the 1st July 2019. The class aimed to provide students with crucial information surrounding the latest software and technologies and how they are being used in industry today. This specific class focused on database skills using MongoDB, Cloudant and PostgreSQL, with a specific focus on Blockchain. The class was given by Phila Dlamini, IBM Worldwide Developer Advocate and Programme Manager for LinuxONE Africa. “We do these classes in all the universities in Africa, to gage the gap when it comes to open source mainframe.” She said. Technology advances faster than universities can adapt their curriculum. This means that by the time a student graduates and enters the world of work, they often lack the necessary knowledge and skills to handle the advanced software and technology being utilised by the companies they join. Dlamini says that classes like the IBM Masterclass are one of the unique ways to alleviate this problem, as they keep students up to date with the latest technologies and give them practical experience with the latest software. She explains the demand for professionals skilled in open source mainframe “Even internally we have a lot of clients, mostly banks, who use mainframe and are looking for skills in open source.” “We hired 20 graduates in August and trained them in mainframe and by May, 15 of them had been hired by banks.” In addition to getting students industry-ready, these classes give students access to an abundance of information, they are able to download a range of open source and IBM training products and technologies for free! They also have the opportunity to take a test based on the information they learned in the class, in order to receive a certificate from IBM. Dlamini explained that with today’s job landscape companies receive so many CV’s that it is important to have something that makes you stand out and a certificate from a recognised company does just this. “I feel inspired. I have assurance that my professional career will benefit from this class, it will go towards my CV and that’s a reward on its own,” commented Rodney Shilenge, a student who attended the class. Through classes like this Belgium Campus keeps its promise, to not only provide students with relevant forward-thinking qualifications but also to expose them to industry experts and experiences that will ensure they become coveted professionals. Students who missed this masterclass, still have an opportunity to attend the full course during the September recess period. So what are you waiting for? Register on your Canvas portal right now.

Looking Back at BusIT Week 2019 Smart Aviation If you’ve got IT flaunt IT Imagine getting the opportunity to meet people from across the world, to share knowledge and ideas about a range of interesting topics that could potentially change the world. Now, imagine being able to do this and receiving academic credits for it. It sounds too good to be true but at Belgium Campus this is possible every year during the International BusIT Week. Participating Belgium Campus student, Lorenzo Lazarus, saw the week as an opportunity to make lifelong friends, network and push himself to grow outside of his comfort zone. The International BusIT Week is an intensive week, where students from various institutions come together to solve a specific case. It is a product of Businet, a group of international higher educational organizations that share common beliefs regarding internationalization. Each year, a different institution hosts. It is open to all students, from first years to seniors, so there is no excuse not to take advantage of the incredible opportunity. When asked how she felt as a first year participating, Amantle Mashele stated, “It wasn’t too intimidating, I believe Belgium Campus prepares you for such.” The week provides an opportunity for students to make use of their technical skills, as well as their social and interpersonal skills. It provides a space where people from diverse cultural backgrounds and geographic locations can share knowledge and ideas, creating room for new lines of dialogue which may not have otherwise existed. “If it was just Belgium Campus students it would have just been our experience of the world, limited as it was, we would have gotten somewhere but we wouldn’t have gotten that far in terms of our thought process,” commented Amantle Mashele, who was part of the winning team. When we are able to engage in this cross-cultural way, it opens doors for innovation as we are able to see topics from fresh perspectives that were not previously available to us. “Certain things were just so mind boggling, the way they live versus the way we live but in terms of working together we were all very competent,” Amantle Mashele continued. This year Belgium Campus, the only institution in Africa which is a member of Businet, had the opportunity to host. The week began on the 14th of April and the theme was Smart Aviation, specifically focussed around the issue of safety. When it comes to the safety of general aviation and single-pilot flights, the tools necessary to compensate for the absence of a copilot are lacking. Participating Belgium Campus students were joined by 17 international students. The students were split into groups and challenged to conceptualise a solution to the presented problem using IT. Lorenzo Lazarus expressed that he was shocked by the topic at first thinking it would be too difficult but that his team’s ability to seamlessly integrate helped, “We really mixed well, we understood each other and we had a good connection in our group which made coming up with a feasible idea much easier.” In addition to engaging in fruitful dialogue and brainstorming sessions as well as learning about ideation, this year’s BusIT participants got the opportunity to visit Wonderboom National Airport. They had a chance to work on the aircraft that the project would be executed on. This provided them with an opportunity to gain insight surrounding the aviation industry and aviation safety first-hand, before presenting their ideas. The winning group made up of Amantle Mashele, Ine Vanolst, Lien Teuwen, Lorenzo Lazarus, Misha Dhaya and Stijn Desender, were the creative minds behind the Line and Object Detection Project. They came up with a tool to reduce the number of accidents during aircraft landings. The tool does this by detecting lines on the runway, obstructions and other air traffic, using infrared cameras, satellites and real-time computer-vision, talk about creating with a purpose! To hear more from some of the young, innovative minds that took part, check out this video: Here. Please feel free to leave us a comment. We love to hear from you!

Top Belgium Campus Students Invited to DVT Open Day Belgium Campus students have been invited to attend DVT’s Open Day on the 20th of July 2019. DVT is one of South Africa’s leading software development companies, with over 20 years’ experience in industries including: healthcare, retail, financial services, banking, insurance, media and telecoms. DVT, who attended our recruitment drive, has invited 50 of our top students to join them at their offices at 9am for a day filled with knowledge, networking and fun. The Open Day will include presentations from industry experts, a thrilling tech race with prizes up for grabs, as well as a braai where students will have an opportunity to network. Xander Schoeman, a third year B.COMP student, said he was extremely honored and excited when he found out he had been chosen. “DVT is a really great company and they match my taste, I am incredibly excited and cannot wait to attend!” He explained that industry days like these allow students to get an idea of the inner workings of a company, “You learn about the company infrastructure, as well as how they communicate and if they operate as a family, this is important when deciding whether you would be a good fit for a company or not.” We would like to thank DVT for extending the invite to our students and we encourage our students to keep working hard, because hard work opens doors to opportunities.

Graduation 2019 Belgium Campus If you’ve got IT flaunt IT On the 17th of May 2019 our class of 2018 adorned themselves with caps, gowns and Cheshire cat smiles to receive their qualifications. All their hard work paid off and this was a day of celebration and pride, not only for the students and their families, but for Belgium Campus as a whole. Prof Thinus Kritzinger, IT Faculty Administrative Dean, referred to the day as “One of the happiest days for us as a campus every year.” The graduation ceremony took place at NG Kerk Wonderpark and there were a total of 112 graduates this year. 70 graduating with Bachelor of Computing Degrees, 23 graduating with Diplomas in Information Technology and 19 graduating with Bachelor of Information Technology Degrees. Of these 112 students, 31 students graduated cum laude, 8 graduated magna cum laude and 2 graduated summa cum laude, it was a brilliant year for Belgium Campus! We are also elated that this year, for the first time, we had the privilege of having two deaf students graduate. Admar Jacques Claassen and Ivan Tshepo Mohale both graduated with Diplomas in Information Technology. We hope they are the first of many. This year’s valedictorian, graduating with a Bachelor of Computing Degree, was Brennan Buitendag who achieved an outstanding 85.6% overall average. He took to the stage with grace and poise to share what this degree meant to him, “It feels like only yesterday I came onto campus knowing almost nothing about anything, let alone IT. Standing here wearing this robe looking out over all of you, it feels, unreal.” He is currently working at IoT.nxt, a company considered to be at the forefront of IoT technology. IoT.nxt has won a number awards as well as being listed in 2018, by leading technology media, as one of the top 5 companies to watch in Africa. Belgium Campus strives to provide its students with the best so that they can go on to be the best and we cannot wait to see what this year’s graduates go on to achieve in the world. We hope that as Belgium Campus CEO Enrico Jacobs stated, “When actually looking back at this today, we see the new captains of industry tomorrow.” A big thank you to our graduates for their dedication and to the academic and supporting staff who helped make this possible. Watch the graduation video here: Here.