GQEBERHA — A coding project that began at Nelson Mandela University has been recognised nationally for its academic and social impact.

Professor Jean Greyling, head of Computing Sciences at Nelson Mandela University and founder of Tangible, presented the project at the Universities South Africa Higher Education Conference in Pretoria on Friday. Tangible was one of three national academic impact case studies presented at the conference, after being selected as one of USAf’s top 2025 academic impact case studies.

Greyling was joined by Katlego Nyambi, from Soshanguve, who first encountered Tangible in Grade 11 at a Tangible workshop in Diepsloot.

“Towards the end of Grade 11, I had no idea what I was going to do after school. I thought I did not have many options,” Katlego said at the time.

After the workshop, he joined the Tangible online C# coding club. While still at school, he said, “Now I know I want to study computer science at a university and I want to become a software engineer.”

Today, Katlego is studying towards a BSc Computer Science at the University of Pretoria, supported by an Amazon bursary.

From student project to global reach

Tangible began in 2017 through an honours project by Byron Batteson, who explored whether learners could be introduced to coding without needing computers, internet access or electricity. That research became the foundation for a programme that now helps teachers introduce coding and computational thinking through hands-on activities.

Since then, the work around Tangible has resulted in five journal papers, 12 conference papers, eight PhD studies and seven Master’s studies.

Global implementation is now led by the Gqeberha-based LEVA Foundation. More than 300,000 learners across five continents have been reached through Tangible’s coding activities and apps.

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