Private university boom in South Africa

STADIO is a South African-based company that provides private higher education, including an array of accredited qualifications via contact, distance and blended learning.

It started as a subsidiary of Curro, which has provided pre-school and school-based education since 1998. Curro is Africa’s largest independent school group and was listed on the JSE in 2011.

In 2013, Curro acquired Embury, a registered private higher education institution offering accredited teacher-education qualifications. 

This was Curro’s first acquisition in the post-school education environment. In 2017, Curro unbundled its interest in STADIO and listed STADIO Holdings on the JSE in October that year. 

The intention was to create a separate listed business focusing on higher education with a strong management team and a dedicated anchor shareholder – PSG Alpha Investments – to become the leader in the higher education market in South Africa.

To achieve this goal, STADIO has since acquired further registered higher education institutions, namely AFDA, Milpark Education, LISOF, Prestige Academy and Southern Business School, and the business of CA Connect. 

AFDA and Milpark Education operate independently, and the other institutions were consolidated with STADIO to form one STADIO Higher Education institution. 

Since striking out on its own, STADIO has made significant strides in becoming a higher education powerhouse in South Africa, taking on large public universities that have been around for decades.

In a recent trading update, STADIO shared how its student numbers have grown over the past five years, rivalling established higher education institutions like the University of Pretoria (UP), the University of Cape Town (UCT), and Stellenbosch University (SU).

From 30 June 2020 to 30 June 2025, Stadio’s student population increased from 31,414 to 50,878, a 61.96% increase.

For context, in 2023, UP reported having around 56,000 students, UCT was home to 29,427 students, and SU had a total headcount of 32,806.

The graph below shows how STADIO’s student numbers have grown since 2020.

Move to distance learning

STADIO’s trading update further showed the increasing demand for distance learning in South Africa. In 2020, distance learning constituted 80% of STADIO’s total. In 2025, this figure has grown to 86%.

STADIO’s contact learning figures are also growing, but not nearly at the same rate as distance learning.

Distance learning grew from 25,145 students in June 2020 to 43,837 in June 2025, an increase of 74.34%. Contact learning grew by 12.31% from 6,269 to 7,041 students over the same period.

Despite this gap, STADIO is pushing to continue increasing its contact learning students, with success.

The company reported in its trading update that STADIO Higher Education’s contact learning strategy is working, with total contact learning student numbers up 23%.

In addition, the company is expanding its physical campus network by building a comprehensive STADIO Durbanville campus, which is expected to open for new students in 2026.

The company said its board has approved building phase 2 earlier than initially planned. STADIO is expected to spend R325 million on both phases 1 and 2. 

The second phase is on track to be completed in August 2026, and STADIO said this campus will increase its student capacity by 6,000.

The Durbanville location will increase the number of STADIO’s physical campuses to seven, with the others located in Bellville, Musgrave, Randburg, Hatfield, Centurion and Waterfall.

In its annual results for the financial year ended 31 December 2024, STADIO revealed ambitious growth plans for the next few years.

The company is on track to reach its pre-listing forecast of 56,000 students by 2026, and believes it can reach 80,000 students by 2030.

The graph below shows how STADIO’s distance and contact learning students have grown since 2020.

Issued on Daily Investor by Bianke Neethling | https://dailyinvestor.com/business/91123/private-university-boom-in-south-africa/