{"id":645173,"date":"2026-05-05T10:55:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=645173"},"modified":"2026-05-05T11:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:31:07","slug":"south-africas-largest-private-university-denied-replacing-human-markers-with-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/ai\/645173-south-africas-largest-private-university-denied-replacing-human-markers-with-ai.html","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s largest private university denied replacing human markers with AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African private tertiary institution Stadio disputed claims that it started using artificial intelligence (AI) to mark students’ papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A MyBroadband reader who previously received payment for regularly assisting with the marking of Stadio students’ papers recently alleged that Stadio had reduced its human marking workloads with AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lecturer at the institution who had outsourced some of their marking to the reader explained that the institution was increasingly moving towards automated, AI-assisted marking systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They said students were now expected to upload more of their assignments for online marking rather than submit them to lecturers for manual marking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some of these assignments, lecturers allegedly only needed to upload their memorandums, and Stadio’s systems would do the rest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reader said they previously received about four different assignments from the lecturer to mark in a year. Due to the new systems, the number had dropped to one or two per year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Stadio Higher Education dean for teaching, learning, and student success, Dr Esther Venter, told MyBroadband the institution did not use AI to mark student work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Marking is conducted by appropriately qualified academic staff, in line with our institutional policies and quality assurance processes,” Venter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venter said that any potential future use of such tools would be carefully evaluated to ensure alignment with academic standards, fairness, and regulatory requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As part of our commitment to innovation and academic excellence, we actively monitor developments in AI and the responsible use of emerging technologies in higher education,” Venter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At present, all marking decisions remain the responsibility of human academics, and established processes are in place to ensure quality and consistency.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proliferation of generative AI tools has been a hotly debated topic in tertiary education since ChatGPT’s public launch in November 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some institutions initially strongly resisted the technology, especially when it came to its use by students to complete assignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A common solution was to integrate generative AI detection tools, which themselves often missed the mark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stadio makes AI use mandatory for some assignments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A 2025 presentation by Stadio’s LLB Department head, Jacques Nieuwoudt, asserted that, as a stand-alone approach to detecting generative AI in academic work, AI detection tools were a dead-end street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nieuwoudt also said that AI detection widened the digital divide and deepened inequalities, as students from more privileged backgrounds may find it easier to manipulate outputs to avoid detection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, many institutions have gradually adopted “responsible” use policies for educators, students, and assessors, including Stadio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The institution recently announced<\/a> a “traffic light” framework that not only gave its students permission to use AI in some assignments but also explicitly required it in certain cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stadio’s head of instructional design and senior research academic, Dr Jolanda Morkel, said that the institution recognised AI was not going away and its use in education should not be feared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morkel said that AI skills were becoming as important as reading, writing, and numeracy proficiency. The traffic light model divides AI models as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n