Stadio Holdings Ltd, which runs privately owned universities in South Africa, expects to more than triple its enrollments by 2030 and is in talks to set up a medical school joint venture with a government tertiary education institution, the company\u2019s chief executive officer said.<\/p>\n
The Cape Town-based company, which was spun off by the country\u2019s largest operator of private schools in 2017, currently has about 30,000 students on its campuses and on correspondence courses.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s seeking to expand its offering by acquiring or setting up information technology and medical training facilities, Chris van der Merwe said. Stadio already provides teacher training, operates a business school and offers a fashion qualification.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would be very disappointed if we don\u2019t get to 100,000 by 2030,\u201d Van der Merwe said Thursday in an interview in Bloomberg\u2019s offices in Johannesburg. The company, which had 800 students when it listed in 2017, is likely to exceed its pre-listing target of 56,000 students by 2026, he said.<\/p>\n
Like its progenitor, Curro Holdings Ltd, Stadio is seeking to take advantage of the lack of affordable education in South Africa and it charges prices comparable with state institutions. While 400,000 students qualify for university access every year, there are only 170,000 places at government institutions, Van der Merwe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a headmaster for many moons,\u201d Van der Merwe said. \u201cThe biggest heart sore was when you walk the path with a youngster from grade 1 to 12 only to tell him 70% is not good enough\u201d to get into university.<\/p>\n
The company, which expects to spend another R1.5 billion ($106 million) on expansion in coming years, is currently in talks about the medical joint venture with a university he didn\u2019t identify.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be their curriculum, their teaching quality. But they don\u2019t have the infrastructure,\u201d he said. \u201cCurrently the planning is for the Western Cape, in Durbanville,\u201d a suburb of Cape Town.<\/p>\n
Stadio rose 1.4% in Johannesburg on Thursday. The stock has dropped 49% in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n