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The Council on Higher Education’s quality committee recently gave Akademia conditional approval for its Paarl Campus facility, located at 1 Breda Street, Esterville.
A tender process for the campus establishment has concluded and will be fully completed by 1 October 2025, while building plans for further expansion have also been served at the Drakenstein municipality.
If all goes according to plan, the Akademia Paarl Campus will be officially unveiled to the media on 15 October 2025 and officially open its doors in January 2026, with an initial first-year student intake of 340.
The campus will feature lecture halls, co-working spaces, two cafeterias, a media centre, a coffee shop, and an Akademia merchandise store. It will also have access control and secure parking.
The following tertiary qualifications will be on offer with the commencement of the 2026 academic year:
- BSc Computer Science
- BA Communication and Journalism
- BCom Economics and Law
- BCom Financial and Management Accounting
- BCom Business Management
- BEd Foundation Phase Education
- BEd Intermediate Phase Education
- BSocSci Politics, Philosophy, and Economics
- LLB
Akademia is currently hiring for positions at the campus. At launch, it plans to have 20 academic and 27 departmental staff members.
Professor Gawie du Toit, currently the Dean of Akademia’s Faculty of Education, will be the campus head.
Du Toit has 35 years of experience in the South African Higher Education sector, including as a researcher, department head, curriculum developer, programme director, and senior manager.
Akademia managing director Marthinus Visser said the campus aims to enrol 2,000 students annually by 2032.
Students who are studying via the part-time distance-learning model at the Paarl Akademia Centre will also be moved to the new campus.
According to Google Street View photos from August 2024, the Akademia Paarl Campus will be located at an address previously occupied by Nedbank and Value Logistics.
Another big campus in the works
Akademia already boasts two full-time campuses in Centurion, including one with three residences established in 2021.
In addition, it plans to begin building a R3.2-billion campus in Pretoria in January 2026 to serve 5,000 and 2,000 postgraduate students.
The campus will be built along Boschkop Road in the far east of the city, roughly eight kilometres from the intersection between Graham Road and Solomon Mahlangu Drive.
It will feature office blocks, lecture halls, laboratories, a library and auditorium, research halls, restaurants, staff accommodation, and student residences for 1,500 occupants.
The project’s first phase, which includes the core academic and operational facilities, will cost roughly R1.8 billion and is expected to be completed by 1 January 2028.
The second phase will see the completion of the academic campuses and the construction of residences, sports facilities, an auditorium, and a chapel.
Developer Kanton has described the project as the largest in the history of the Afrikaans language and culture communities.
Akademia has seen substantial growth since its founding in 2010 and first classes in 2012. The university’s intake grew from 40 students to 2,500 by 2023.
It initially offered only three qualifications. As of 2025, Akademia boasts 12 degrees, and several diplomas and higher certificates.
Akademia was established by the Solidarity Movement, which also operates an Afrikaans-medium technical college called Sol-Tech with more than 2,000 students.
The institution opened the doors to a state-of-the-art campus in 2021, which was completed under budget and ahead of schedule despite significant challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Issued on MyBroadband by Hanno Labuschagne | https://mybroadband.co.za/news/business/601404-private-afrikaans-university-getting-two-new-campuses.html
