- STADIO Higher Education has begun construction on a new campus in Durbanville, aiming to welcome students by 2026.
- The campus will offer diverse programs and aims to improve higher education access for thousands in the Western Cape.
- STADIO hopes to contribute to increasing the country’s low graduation rate and provide opportunities for students in various fields.
“We believe that the only way we can make a significant change for the better in this country, is to give more people access to quality higher education. And that is what we want to achieve here,” Chris Vorster, chief executive officer of STADIO, said at a tree planting ceremony last Wednesday at the site of the planned university in Groot Phesantekraal Estate.
The ceremony marked the official start of the construction of STADIO Higher Education’s new Durbanville campus. A huge coral tree was planted on the land where the rugbyfields will be developed.
STADIO plans to develop a new comprehensive campus in the Western Cape, with the first phase to be launched in middle 2025.
The new campus plans to offer schools in education, IT, law, media and design, commerce, architecture, and engineering with a planned capacity of between 4 000 and 5 000 contact learning students.
The campus will offer wide-ranging qualifications at higher certificate, undergraduate degree and post-graduate degree levels.
The campus will officially welcome students in the 2026 academic year.
Broadening access to higher education
Vorster said that developing the new campus is part of the group’s strategy.
“Our vision is to broaden access to higher education in South Africa, with a goal of accommodating 100 000 students in time – of whom 80% will be distance learning students and 20% contact learning students,” he said.
“This means we need to accommodate 20 000 contact learning students and the Durbanville campus, along with our other campus strategies, will provide us with sufficient capacity to achieve this. Broadening access to tertiary education involves much more than merely creating spaces for more students; it’s about offering alternative pathways into tertiary education,” he said.
According to Vorster South Africa has a very low graduation rate of less than 10%. “If my figures are correct, it is estimated that less than 7% of South Africans hold their first degree – in comparison to countries like South Korea, where we see graduation rates of up to 74%. “Europe is in the high 60%. We have even seen rates of 25 to 30% in other developing countries. So for us at STADIO, we want to work towards the point of seeing South Africans reaching a 30% graduation rate. There’s a massive demand for higher education in our country and unfortunately an undersupply.
“Since 2008, the matric degree passes have increased by 11% per year. The first-year degree intake at public universities has increased by about 1%. As you can see that undersupply is growing year on year,” he said.
Launched in phases
The campus, envisioned to be 13 000 m² of buildings at completion, will be launched in phases, starting in mid-2025 with the access points, roads, first academic blocks, offices, lecture halls and parking facilities.
In February 2026, a rugby field complying with the International Rugby Board’s artificial rugby turf specifications, will follow. This field will be suitable for international rugby games.
Vorster adds that the campus will benefit the entire STADIO community, which comprises students, staff and investors.
“For students, we’re offering a variety of qualifications, including higher certificates as bridging courses to degrees for those who passed matric without university exemption,” he explained.
“Those who choose to do their postgraduate studies with us automatically become shareholders through our STADIO Khulisa Student Share Scheme upon graduation,” he said.
Site development plan
The STADIO Durbanville site development plan has been designed by BPAS Architects and attention has been given to ensuring the campus will not only be functional but attractive and sustainable too.
“For instance, we have allowed for free flow of pedestrian traffic between the buildings while ensuring there is minimal vehicle traffic. We have also implemented measures like rainwater harvesting and waterwise landscaping across the entire site,” Vorster said.
STADIO is in discussions with developers to ensure a range of student accommodation options and other facilities are available. This includes, for example, an underpass built between the STADIO campus and Curro Durbanville, allowing for the campus’ sports facilities to be shared.
“Apart from investing in sports facilities, such as our rugby field and multi-sport courts, we are building relationships with sports clubs in the area to offer students opportunities to compete at competitive levels,” he said.
“This campus will also be doubling up as a learning center for our distance learners in the area. This will also give them a sense of belonging, and they will always be welcome to come onto this campus,” he said.
Alan Winde, Western Cape premier, who could not be present due to other obligations, said in a video “the project is a great investment in about 4 000 to 5 000 opportunities for on-site students in Durbanville itself, but also part of Stadio’s vision to help 100 000 students to get the right skills for the future of our country, our region and our economy.
“Thank you very much to the investors, the students, how this started, from school-space to post-school-space. And of course we become modern and innovative, because the skills that are needed for tomorrow, for the jobs of tomorrow, that probably don’t even exist yet, but we have to prepare the young generation for this rapidly developing world.
“And what you are doing here is exactly that – creating more and more space for higher education. And when I think about the percentages of opportunities against our population, versus other competitive countries, we have a lot of work to do in investing in higher education,” Winde said
