| COVID-19 vaccination opportunities for staff over 35 | https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8431 | | COVID-19 vaccination opportunities for staff over 35 | Prof Stan du Plessis & Prof Nico Koopman | <p style="text-align:right;">26 July 2021<br></p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>Dear colleagues<br></p><p>As stakeholders of <a href="https://healthcheck.higherhealth.ac.za/login/?next=/"><strong class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-9-5">Higher Health</strong></a> via Stellenbosch University (SU), our staff now have access to the comprehensive post-school education and training (PSET) COVID-19 vaccination strategy, which was developed in line with the Department of Health’s national vaccination roll-out plan.</p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p><strong>All SU staff aged 35 years and older – including full-time, part-time and contract staff as well as postgraduate students who teach at the University</strong> – are eligible for the following two initiatives, starting this week:</p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>1. Between Tuesday 27 and Friday 30 July 2021, from 08:00 to 17:00 daily, any PSET-institution staff member over 35 – as defined above – can go to any of more than <strong>2 000 public health vaccination sites nationwide</strong> to get vaccinated against COVID-19. <a href="/english/Documents/2021/Annexure-A-Provincial-Vaccination-Plan-Sites-List.xlsx"><strong class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-9-5">Click here</strong></a> for a list of sites. Please note that this opportunity has been extended to our sector on a priority basis, but at some sites employees from a number of government departments might also be assisted at the same time.</p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>2. Alternatively, Higher Health has allocated dedicated slots at specific times for SU staff members (same definition as above) at the <strong>Momentum mass vaccination facility at Parc Du Cap in Bellville</strong> between Friday 30 July and Monday 16 August 2021. You will need to register specifically for this opportunity, as explained below.</p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>We welcome these valuable opportunities and encourage everyone who is eligible to participate. To make use of either of these two opportunities, you must register on the national EVDS (Electronic Vaccination Data System) by using any of the following options: · Self-registration web portal: https://vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za</p><p>· Dial *134*832*ID number# on your cellphone. (No ID? – Just dial *134*832#)</p><p>· WhatsApp: Send the word “REGISTER” to 060 012 3456.</p><p>· Toll-free hotline: 0800 029 999</p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>If you wish to make use of the opportunity at <strong>Momentum</strong>, please also register on SU’s database by entering your details <a href="https://stellenbosch.sharepoint.com/sites/SUNVACCINATIONROLLOUT"><strong class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-9-5">here</strong></a>. Once registered, you will be notified of the scheduled time when you need to go to the site at 5 Mispel Road, Bellville, to obtain your vaccination. Further information will be provided on confirmation of your scheduled timeslot.</p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>For either opportunity, please remember the following: <br></p><p><strong>Leave</strong>: As per the staff notification of 11 June (<a href="https://stellenbosch.everlytic.net/public/messages/view-online/94LMxBaGIHp4a2YI/cZA95VcKwWPL55SZ/46YwOa4vTvUq7hUj"><strong class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-9-5" style="">click here</strong></a>), please submit a leave request, selecting “Leave of absence: Vaccination”.</p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p><strong>Identity</strong>: Please remember to take a valid ID document or passport along, as well as your SU staff card or letter from the University. If you are going to the Momentum site, you will also need your medical aid card (any scheme).<br></p><p>If you require further information regarding COVID-19 vaccination, please <a href="/english/faq-covid-19-vaccination"><strong class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-9-5">click here</strong></a> to read our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).</p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>For any further questions, please contact SU’s:</p><p> · Campus Health Service on <strong class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-9-5" style="">chs@sun.ac.za</strong> or 021 808 3494/6 </p><p>· Human Resources on <strong class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-9-5" style="">sun-e-HR@sun.ac.za</strong> or 021 808 2753/2484</p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>We are extremely grateful for these opportunities. At the same time, we continue working on other initiatives to ensure that all our staff and students are assisted under the national vaccination programme as soon as possible. We will keep you informed of further developments.<br></p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>It is in everyone’s interest – yours, your family’s and the broader SU community’s – to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Please make use of this opportunity, or an alternative vaccination option you may have access to.</p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>Sincerely<br></p><p><br></p><p style="color:#000000;font-family:"times new roman";font-size:medium;"></p><p>Prof Stan du Plessis </p><p>Chair: Institutional Committee for Business Continuity<br></p><p><br></p><p>Prof Nico Koopman </p><p>Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Social Impact, Transformation & Personnel</p><p><br></p> |
| Matie shop goes online from 1 July 2021 | https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8378 | | Matie shop goes online from 1 July 2021 | Innovus | <p>Stellenbosch University's (SU) popular Matie Shop opened its online shop on Thursday, 1 July 2021, offering its whole range of SU-branded apparel, gifts and accessories.<br></p><p>“We are very excited to offer our customers this convenient way of shopping," says Matie Shop's newly appointed manager, Lara Cronje. “To celebrate this milestone, we will have exciting specials throughout July – so please watch this space."</p><p>For Cronje, who joined Innovus three months ago, the opening of the online shop is the culmination of careful planning and testing of the online commerce environment.</p><p>“Our team has been testing online sales for a while now, and there is a huge demand for our products to be available online – especially amongst our alumni, students that are studying remotely and the broader university community."</p><p>“We receive a lot of queries from alumni living abroad, and hope to provide them with the opportunity to access all SU branded products from anywhere across the world in the near future as it will be a dream come true. In the meantime, local Maties can shop away!"</p><p>Apart from stocking SU products, residences and faculties will also have access to this online store to sell their branded SU merchandise through a central platform.</p><p>Keep an eye on social media and visit Maties Shop online at www.matieshop.co.za from 1 July 2021 for all your SU needs. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with the latest specials.<br></p><p><br></p> |
| SU spinout company ensures school receives first ever energy efficient certificate in SA | https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8325 | | SU spinout company ensures school receives first ever energy efficient certificate in SA | Petro Mostert | <p>Stellenbosch University (SU) spinout company GreenX Engineering's initiatives to help equip Cloetesville Primary School in Stellenbosch with energy-saving technology ensured that it became the first school in South Africa to receive an Electrical Performance Certificate (EPC). The school received an A rating for electrical consumption of 17 kWh per m².<br></p><p>The EPC is the culmination of hard work and dedication, a great team effort and leaping over the final hurdle in completing his PhD, says Managing Director of GreenX, Jason Samuels.</p><p>Under the supervision of Thinus Booysen, professor in electrical and electronic engineering, and Saartjie Grobbelaar, associate professor in industrial engineering, Samuels is doing his PhD focusing on schools and their energy usage; creating methods to reduce their consumption and systems to manage the school more efficiently. Samuels, Booysen and Grobbelaar, together with entrepreneur Mario Roos established GreenX Engineering with the help of Innovus Technology Transfer, SU's innovation division. Booysen and Grobbelaar are both non-executive directors of GreenX Engineering.</p><p>“GreenX Engineering's creation can be traced back two years ago when I heard Prof Booysen on the radio talking about his involvement in projects to help schools in and around Stellenbosch and Paarl save water and electricity. I realised that my specialised lighting and electrical maintenance company could become an essential partner to Booysens initiatives at schools," said Roos, and the conversation started.</p><p>Roos said that when the amendment to the National Energy Act of 1998 was proclaimed in December 2020 by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy – requiring building owners to publish the electrical consumption per square meter by 2022, they saw a gap in the market for establishing a company that can ensure that buildings adhere to this new regulation.</p><p>As GreenX's technical director, Booysen brings the company his technical expertise and experience with assisting schools to become more energy-efficient and reduce their electricity and water bills. “There are many schools with no financial or technical means to manage their energy and water resources efficiently. We initially started with thirteen schools, and this number has grown to 25 schools in the Stellenbosch and Paarl area. Thanks to funding from the Western Cape Education Department, as well as from SU's social impact and transformation department, we can equip these schools with energy savings technology to help them reduce their energy bills," says Booysen.</p><p>For Roos, the dream is to ensure energy efficiency at all South African schools and actively reduce their carbon footprint. “Our calculations show that we can take out 120 kg of carbon emissions per school per day. So, if we could expand our programme to incorporate all 1 600 schools in the Western Cape, it will translate to taking out 90 million kg of carbon emissions per year."</p><p>Roos believes they are creating a blueprint that could be duplicated across the country and internationally. “Our initial focus is schools whereafter we will roll out to corporate and government buildings across the country."</p><p>For Grobbelaar, the business model they have created will allow the company to grow while retaining a solid link to SU's engineering research expertise. “Initiatives such as these is bringing SU's research into the real world and actively changes the lives of people – currently starting at school level; a place where all people need to move through at some point in their lives."</p><p><strong>FUNCTION</strong></p><p>At a function at Cloetesville Primary in Stellenbosch today (10 June 2021), Deputy director-general: education planning of the Western Cape Education Department, Salie Abrahams, handed the school's CPT certificate over to school principal Rodger Cupido on 10 June 2021.</p><p>For Cupido becoming a sustainable and energy-efficient school is high on his list of priorities. “Our school is also known as the 'Green School'," he says, referring the temporary green structure that served as the original school building when the school was established in 1969. “Now we are green because we are energy efficient and for that I am very grateful."</p><p>Congratulating Cloetesville Primary with their EPC certificate, Prof Stan du Plessis, Chief Operating Officer at Stellenbosch University, said it is very symbolic to handover this certificate at a school. “It is not my generation, but that of my children's who will suffer if we do not make a difference to our environment through energy-saving projects such as this one. With this project we see what the impact is when we move ideas into the market – we built great companies like GreenX that can help a school like Cloetesville Primary save 20% on their monthly energy bill."</p><p>Abrahams says there is immense pride in the approach that shaped this partnership between the WCED, local authorities, the University, school and the private sector. “My vote of thanks goes to all that contributed to this project and to the leadership of this school that, despite challenges and constraints, could made this happened and introduced our children to the development of entrepreneurial spirit – how young mind can give flight to their ideas. We hope to be part of a bigger project leading out of this."<br></p><p><br></p><p><em>Note: </em><em><strong>EPC certification</strong></em><em> refers to the measurement of the net energy consumed in kilowatt hours per square meter (kWh/m²) to meet the different needs associated with the use of the building. Energy Performance Certificates are now mandatory for private sector, non-residential buildings with a total net floor area of more than 2 000 m², and government buildings of more than 1000 m². The certificates must be displayed at the building's main entrance; and must be submitted to the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI). The certificate is valid for a period of five years whereafter it must be renewed.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>Note: </em><em><strong>Stellenbosch University</strong></em><em> (SU) received the very first Electrical Performance Certificate (EPC) for any building in South Africa in February this year. SU's Admin B building received an A rating for electrical consumption of 48 kWh per m².</em></p><p>Caption: Cloetesville Primary receives its Energy Performance Certificate. From the left Deputy director-general: education planning of the Western Cape Education Department, Salie Abrahams, Cloetesville Primary School principal, Rodger Cupido, and Prof Stan du Plessis, Chief Operating Officer of Stellenbosch University.<br></p><p><br></p> |
| Applications are open for SU Techpreneurship Centre’s second Data Science and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp 2021 | https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8297 | | Applications are open for SU Techpreneurship Centre’s second Data Science and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp 2021 | Petro Mostert | <p>Stellenbosch University LaunchLab's newly-established SU Techpreneurship Centre (SU TPC) will be hosting its second <em>Data Science, Machine Learning and Entrepreneurship</em> <em>Bootcamp </em>in July this year after the first cohort successfully completed the programme in March 2021.</p><p>The SU TPC is a new data science and entrepreneurial development upskilling initiative developed by the SU LaunchLab, the University's technology and entrepreneurship incubator, in collaboration with the SU School for Data Science and Computational Thinking. The Centre offers courses that bridge the gap between technology and entrepreneurship by providing candidates with both in-depth programming skills in data science and machine learning and how to use these skills in the industry. </p><p>SU LaunchLab CEO Joshua Romisher says they are excited to launch the next programme after successfully ensuring that 90% of the first cohort's participants have landed interviews with partner companies after taking the first course in February. </p><p>The second programme will consist of a 4-week, full-time immersive Bootcamp during the July-August winter holiday. Experts from the SU LaunchLab and SU School for Data Science and Computational Thinking will cover a range of topics such as machine learning techniques, algorithms and models, data exploration and analysis in Python, and soft skills such as SCRUM, Agile and Kanban.</p><p>SU TPC Coordinator Daniel Maloba says the programme, which will run during the winter break (13 July to 6 August 2021), is open to anyone from all academic levels and backgrounds to apply, and that multidisciplinary applicants and backgrounds are very much encouraged. “The course is coding-intensive; therefore, we recommend that candidates understand programming principles, but it does not matter if you have no specific programming experience."</p><p>One of the participants of the first programme, Tanya Meyer, says the SU TPC was instrumental in fast-tracking progress for her MEng research project in Machine Learning and Data Science. “It skyrocketed my Python programming skillset whilst developing my previously non-existent, soft tech skills with lots of guest speaker talks, entrepreneurship sessions and colleague collaboration."</p><p>Maloba said participants seeking internships should look no further than enrolling for the programme. “We have great industry partners who are always looking for new talent," said Maloba. </p><p>Applications opened on 3 May 2021 and will close on 18 June 2021. Applicants are admitted on a rolling basis, so interested candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. </p><p>The total cost of the 4-week, full-time programme is as follows: SU participant (SU students, staff, recent grads, alumni, etc.): R10,000 excl.; R11,500 VAT incl.</p><p>For more information or to apply for the programme, click on this <a href="https://launchlab.co.za/events/su-techpreneurship-centre-bootcamp/">link</a>. Anyone wishing to learn more about the initiative - applicants, partners looking for young talent, or just in general - can contact Daniel Maloba at <a href="mailto:daniel@launchlab.co.za">daniel@launchlab.co.za</a> .</p><p><br></p> |
| SU celebrates International Earth Day all week long | https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8219 | | SU celebrates International Earth Day all week long | Facilities Management | <p><br><br></p><p>Stellenbosch University celebrated Earth Day (22 April 2021) for the first time with a week-long programme of activities on the Stellenbosch and Tygerberg campuses to raise awareness for sustainability. From new vegetable gardens at residences, a webinar on restoring the earth, tree planting at the Ou Hoofgebou, to climbing on the roof of Die Neelsie for a glimpse into the first of its size photovoltaic plant on campus were items on the programme for the week of 19 to 23 April 2021.</p><p>Students also organised various engagement sessions, such as giving away Spekbome on campus, conducting critical discussions, watching documentaries, beach cleanups and online awareness campaigns.</p><p>John de Wet, SU's environmental sustainability manager at Facilities Management, and project coordinator Christine Groenewald, played host during the week to inform students and other guests about the projects already in place to help make SU an environmentally sustainable university.</p><p>This year's Earth Day theme is “Restore our Earth", covering natural processes, merging green technologies, and innovations to restore the world's ecosystems.</p><p>In a webinar, John, Christine and colleagues Dannica Pedro and Taariq Fakier raised awareness around the health of planet earth and made people aware of significant projects underway to reduce SU's carbon footprint. “SU is committed to reducing the impact caused by its business and operations on the environment and its natural resources. We also provide our graduates with the necessary skills and tools to contribute to an environmentally sustainable world through knowledge and research," said John.</p><p>SU's new Environmental Sustainability Plan for the next five years will guide the University into the future to ensure that our campuses become environmental and ecologically sustainable.</p><p>Says John: “The plan guide and prioritise the environmental projects for investigation and implementation. This will result in more resilient greener campuses, reduced operational costs and a reduction in emissions and our carbon footprint."</p><p>Currently, there are a few practical projects and interventions underway at Facilities Management as part of the journey to decarbonise our operations, such as the newly installed photovoltaic panels on the roof of the Neelsie Student Centre. Similar installations of PV panels will be completed within the next five years on our campuses.</p><p>John also mentioned the successful installation of a greywater-system on campus and interventions such as water-efficient fittings and installed.</p><p>The Earth Week Awareness campaign has set the pace for various information interventions to follow on campus. In her part of the presentation, Christine focused on the importance of responsible behaviour and how important it is to consider our choices when it comes to simple things like washing your hands under a running tap. “I always tell people: chose one action a month that will have a positive impact on our environment, and after a year, you have formed twelve new habits."</p><p>The team urged staff and students to get involved and link up with like-minded individuals to create extra motivation, ideas, and energy to preserve and restore our planet.</p><p>If you are interested in becoming involved in a campus network that connects individuals who want to help establish an environmentally sustainable culture that actively works towards reducing SU's carbon footprint, please contact Christine at clgroenewald@sun.ac.za, or Dannica at dpedro@sun.ac.za.</p><p><br></p> |
| Sustainability: what we can learn from our grandparents | https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8095 | | Sustainability: what we can learn from our grandparents | Operations and Finance | <p><br><br></p><div>We have much to learn from our grandparents. They understood sustainability: they preserved (and never wasted) water, our grandparents generated power with windpompe, farmed organically and lived off the land. They built huge verandas around their houses to keep the heat out, planted many trees, and walked much more than we do today.</div><div><br></div><div>Says Nadeem Gafieldien, Director Property Services at Facilities Management: “it is because of our grandparents’ commitment to sustainability that their grandchildren can still experience exploring forests on foot and oceans to swim in.”</div><div><br></div><div>Nadeem and John de Wet, SU’s environmental sustainability manager, are the driving force behind Stellenbosch University’s sustainability programme over the past decade. Thanks to them advocating for behaviour change amongst students, staff and university stakeholders, we can now start seeing the results.<br></div><div><br><strong>A first for SU</strong></div><div><br>The latest feather in SU’s sustainability cap was the University being the first institution in South Africa to receive the Electrical Performance Certificate (EPC) for a building – an A-rating for electrical consumption of 48 kWh per m². Last year the University’s sustainable water optimisation project was the runner-up in the International Sustainability Campus Network’s (ISCN) awards – an accolade showing that we can compete against the top universities worldwide.<br></div><div><br></div><div>But it was not always a smooth ride. “When we embarked on this sustainability journey at SU, this topic was not a priority. We spent a lot of time talking with stakeholders to convince them how crucial it is that the University take the lead in becoming sustainable,” says John.</div><div><br></div><div>“Mother earth is under huge pressure, and humans are destroying the whole ecosystem. We have a responsibility to walk the talk and inspire other institutions to follow suit. SU has come a long way, but there is a lot of work still to do,” says John.</div><div><br></div><div>Both men are passionate about this green planet of ours. They are determined to make sure they leave behind a sustainable legacy once they have to retire. “We sometimes make our colleagues crazy, but we persevere to ensure that each new project at Facilities Management has sustainability integrated into its blueprint,” says Nadeem, who still uses his shower water to flush his toilet at home.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Drought crisis the turning point </strong><br></div><div><br></div><div>For them, the drought crisis in 2016 was a huge turning point in SU’s sustainable journey – one that gave this drive the fuel to ignite a whole lot of sustainability drives. They are particularly proud of the enormous buy-in they enjoy from students on campus. “Luckily for us, we have young people like Dannica Pedro advocating for sustainability amongst students. She talks the student talk and knows how to mobilise students to support our sustainability projects on campus, like the waste project where we recycle most of the waste at residences and on campus.”</div><div><br></div><div>John says he also has three garbage bins at home for recycling, because “you have to practice what you preach”. </div><div><br></div><div>Nadeem says he would like to see students eating in dining rooms again and not in their bedrooms. “Thinks like cooking oil gets into pipes that are not made for food and cause huge blockages. If students can all go back eating in dining rooms where leftovers can be channelled towards compost plants and things such as plastic utensils and plates can become a thing of the past, we will become even more sustainable.”</div><div><br></div><div>He reminds us that our grandparents never wasted anything, and we should be following that example. “If you do not eat rice, don’t dish it,” says Nadeem, telling us that SU is throwing away tons of food per week, which is entirely unnecessary. “We live in Africa; we should not be wasting any food.”</div><div><br></div><div>They are passionate and excited about the projects that are already in place on campus. The so-called “Green House Committee Members” is doing a lot to spread the word and motivate fellow students to live more sustainable. Both Nadeem and John hold various talks on campus and in the community to advance sustainability on all our campuses. Their efforts had yield lots of dividends already. “This year, for the first time, the second year Journalism students will focus all of their projects on sustainability. At Tygerberg campus, all the lecturers pay money into a kitty every time they fly somewhere. We use the money to plant trees.”</div><div><br></div><div>These are a few of many projects and plans up their sleeves. “We still have a long way to go, but we’ve planted a lot of seeds, and it will bear the results in due time,” agrees John and Nadeem. “Just watch this (sustainable) space.”</div><div><br><br></div><p><br></p> |
| SU providing a hybrid solution to learning | https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8096 | | SU providing a hybrid solution to learning | Operations and Finance | <p><br><br></p><div>With students returning to campus, they will soon be introduced to the new Extended Learning Spaces Project (ELS) as part of SU’s fast-track learning and teaching digitalization strategy, including hybrid learning. </div><div><br></div><div>Our Information Technology and Facility Management teams has been hard at work implementing state-of-the-art video streaming capabilities to all schedulable lecture rooms. </div><div><br></div><div>The project will deliver an integrated and consistent solution to enable a teaching model supporting simultaneous in-class and online learning. Using the Microsoft Teams platform, lecturers can run classes with half of the students being in attendance. The other half will be joining the class remotely and, in this way, both groups having a similar learning experience.</div><div><br></div><div>The project will integrate the in-class systems with the Microsoft Teams environment as well as with SUNLearn, seamlessly transmitting audio and video while also maintaining a high quality of content. The sessions will also be recorded for students to review. The system is designed to be largely automated, and controls will be intuitive and easy to use, minimising the burden on the lecturers. Part of the project is to establish the support and maintenance structures as well as sustainable funding of the solution.</div><div><br></div><div>The aim is to equip most University schedulable lecture venues by end of May 2021. The remaining schedulable venues will be equipped in the next phase. The remaining schedulable venues will be equipped in the next phase.</div><div><br></div><div>Currently, Facilities Management is finalising the design solutions. To restrict the installation time in the classroom to the minimum it was decided to design a stand-alone Audio-Visual (AV) Console that can plug-and-play into the variety of lecture desks present in lecture rooms across campus. This approach will standardise the installation and limit the disruption time to lecture rooms.</div><div><br><br><br></div><p><br></p> |
| WEF recognises SharkSafe as a top ocean innovator | https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8097 | | WEF recognises SharkSafe as a top ocean innovator | Operations and Finance | <p><br><br></p><p></p><div>SharkSafe Barrier™, an Innovus spinout company from Stellenbosch University, was recognised by the World Economic Forum's digital platform UpLink as one of its top ocean innovators.</div><div><br></div><div>UpLink, the WEF's digital platform for scaling innovation and driving progress toward sustainable development goals, unveiled its second cohort of ocean innovators on 22 January 2021. The platform aims to identify and highlight businesses such as SharkSafe PTY as a company with great potential to accelerate the United Nations' goals for sustainable development. </div><div><br></div><div>SharkSafe Barrier™, the first eco-friendly technology that combines magnetic and visual stimuli to deter Shark species considered dangerous to humans, last year also won the prestigious NSTF South32's Lewis Foundation Green Economy award for outstanding contributions to science, engineering, technology and innovation in South Africa. The inventors of SharkSafe Barrier™, are Michael Rutzen, Dr Sara Andreotti, Dr Craig O'Connell and Prof Matthee. Dr Andreotti and Prof Matthee are from SU's Department of Botany and Zoology.</div><div><br><br><br></div><p><br></p> |
| WiFi availability in residences at 95% | https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8098 | | WiFi availability in residences at 95% | Operations and Finance | <p><br><br></p><p></p><div>Altogether 95% of residences on Stellenbosch and Tygerberg campuses now have sufficient WiFi coverage. </div><div><br></div><div>A WiFi Classroom Project was done in conjunction with Facilities Management’s Classroom Upgrading project. Where permanent WiFi was not possible, ad hoc temporary arrangements were made to have some WiFi available in most classrooms.</div><div><br></div><div>With the ICT in T+L Network project that started in 2015, IT upgraded the network of several buildings together with the installation of WiFi. These projects were also done in conjunction with Facilities Management's Campus Renewal Project. </div><div><br></div><div>The next phase of the ICT project is to provide buildings with WiFi coverage where the Campus Renewal Project does not intend to refurbish buildings in the near future. For this project, existing network points will be upgraded to connect to WiFi access points.</div><div><br></div><div>The WiFi coverage on the Stellenbosch Campus is depicted on the map below. We expect an interactive map soon, which will provide much more detail. <br></div><div><br></div><div><img src="/english/PublishingImages/Lists/dualnews/My%20Items%20View/campus%20map.png" alt="campus map.png" style="margin:5px;" /><br></div><div><br><br><br></div><p><br></p> |
| SU to issue its first short course e-certificates – and have a tree to show for it! | https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8099 | | SU to issue its first short course e-certificates – and have a tree to show for it! | Operations and Finance | <p><br><br></p><div>For the first time, Stellenbosch University will issue validated short course e-certificates this year, paving the way for others to follow suit. </div><div><br></div><div>According to Carol Kat, head of copyright, trademarks, and short courses at Innovus, the first short course e-certificates were issued in the week of 15 February 2021. She said this is the result of the institutional shift to a fully online environment for teaching and learning mechanisms due to pandemic lockdown conditions. An urgent need arose within the SU short course environment to implement electronic certification to address the high courier costs, loss of certificates and logistical and administrative aspects with regards to certification that have arose during the extended lockdown period.</div><div><br></div><div>In collaboration with SU’s IT and Procurement Divisions, the institutional Request for Information (RFI) process for Identification of a Digital Certification Partner for SU was initiated by SCD, IT and the Procurement Division at beginning of August 2020. The tender was awarded to Paradigm (based in Virginia; USA). To show their appreciation, Paradigm partnered with American Forest to have a beautiful Jack Pine tree planted in the Hiawatha National Forest and in the name of Stellenbosch University.</div><div><br><br><br></div><p><br></p> |
