New R325 million private ‘university’ coming to South Africa next year

The group said the 13,000 sqm building would be launched in phases, starting in mid-2025 with roads, academic books, offices, lecture halls and parking facilities.

Located in the northern suburbs of Cape Town, the new campus plans to offer schools in education, IT, law, media and design, commerce, architecture and engineering.

In an update ahead of its AGM, Stadio said that its board approved the building of phase 2 earlier than initially planned.

The total cost of phases 1 and 2 is estimated to be R325 million. Phase 2 is expected to be completed in August 2026 and will increase capacity to more than 6,000 students.

Chris Vorster, Stadio’s Chief Executive Officer, previously said that the new campus is part of the strategy to broaden access to higher education and accommodate 100,000 students in time.

He believes 80% of these would be distance learning students and 20% contact learning students, with 20,000 students at the campuses.

Stadio’s plan is to invest in a few comprehensive campuses instead of several small ones.

The Durbanville campus will thus offer higher certificate qualifications, undergraduate degrees, and post-graduate programmes.

Vorster said the new campus will help underpin the group’s national footprint by creating a private tertiary education hub that rivals the Western Cape’s four public universities.

He noted a massive demand for higher education in the province but a lack of supply of tertiary institutions.

The new campus will also look to tap into the northern suburbs’ growing economy, including the Cape Winelands Airport, and create job opportunities.

The addition of Durbanville will push Stadio’s physical non-university campuses to seven, with structures in the Western Cape’s Bellville, KZN’s Musgrave and Gauteng’s Randburg, Hatfield, and Waterfall.

The term “university” can only refer to state-owned institutions, much to the chagrin of private players, with Stadio rival AdvTech pushing to change the regulations.

Student numbers growing

The update on the campus also came with new data on Stadio’s total student count, which showed an overall growth of 8% to just under 44,000.

Considering the challenging South African landscape, the group said the overall growth was satisfactory.

With a second semester underway, distance learning student numbers continue to grow steadily at 8% per annum.

With the new campus yet to open, it added that the overall 11% growth in contact learning student numbers is highly positive.

It believes its contact learning strategy is working, with total contact learning student numbers up 23%.