{"id":881694,"date":"2026-11-01T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=881694"},"modified":"2026-10-30T15:55:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T13:55:59","slug":"the-largest-private-university-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/education\/881694\/the-largest-private-university-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The largest private university in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In recent years, Stadio and Advtech have emerged as the two largest private universities in South Africa, and a side-by-side comparison reveals which has captured the larger share of this market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private universities have emerged in recent years as an alternative to public institutions, due to issues such as capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) noted 1.07 million enrolments across South Africa’s public universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was 3.7% lower than the department’s proposed target for the year, 1.11 million, across all types of university degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private universities create additional capacity in South Africa’s higher education system, with many of these institutions in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of 2026, there were 164 DHET-accredited private institutions in the country, across 706 qualifications and 15 fields of study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this does create more educational opportunities, one major drawback of private colleges is the cost of studying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While public universities receive government support, private institutions rely entirely on tuition fees and private funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the private university space, two companies have emerged as the dominant forces: Stadio and Advtech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both of these groups operate several institutions, with Stadio spread across its namesake campuses, as well as Milpark Education and AFDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advtech previously operated in the higher education space under several names, including Varsity College, Rosebank College, and Vega. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2026, however, the group consolidated these institutions under a single umbrella, Emeris, in preparation for legislative reforms that would allow the group to be recognised as a university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The simplification of our premium brand structures under the Emeris name marks a significant step on our journey to be recognised as a University,” Advtech CEO Geoff Whyte said in September 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consolidation also came after pressure from the DHET<\/a> over Advtech operating under different names in the higher-education space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advtech vs Stadio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are several metrics which can be used to compare the size of both private institutions, related to both their overall business and university operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Advtech and Stadio are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), giving them access to substantial capital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the exchange, Advtech has a higher share price, with a closing price of 5,540 cents on 28 October 2026, compared to Stadio’s 1,640 cents on the same day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of market capitalisation, the measurement of a company’s overall value, Advtech is also the larger of the two companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While these measurements indicate the scale of each company, it is not an entirely fair comparison of each business’s university operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Stadio operates exclusively in the higher-education space, Advtech operates in both higher and basic education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advtech earned over R2 billion in revenue from its schools division in its last interim period, close to the revenue from its tertiary division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Stadio and Advtech ended their last interim period on 30 June 2026, with these results being used to compare the two groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In total, Stadio earned approximately R1.08 billion in revenue in its last interim period, lower than Advtech’s R2.24 billion in its tertiary division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advtech also saw a higher number of 2026 enrolments than Stadio, with roughly 71,000 students compared to Stadio’s 56,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strong enrolment figures for Advtech have prompted the group to plan several expansions, particularly at Rosebank International.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Various projects are in progress to increase capacity at RI sites to accommodate strong student demand,” the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Advtech vs. Stadio group comparison<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>Advtech<\/strong><\/td>Stadio<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Market Cap<\/td>R30.1 billion<\/td>R13.8 billion<\/td><\/tr>
Share price<\/td>5,540<\/td>1,640<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
Based on the interim period ended 30 June 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Advtech vs. Stadio university comparison<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>Advtech<\/strong><\/td>Stadio<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Revenue<\/td>R2.24 billion<\/td>R1.08 billion*<\/td><\/tr>
number of students<\/td>71 467<\/td>56 171*<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
Based on the interim period ended 30 June 2026. *Results from the university division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advtech and Stadio are two of South Africa’s largest private tertiary groups, and a side-by-side comparison shows the difference in scale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":824367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2116803688375148990","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2256822151804850","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18198526279389125","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26526],"tags":[7286,26964,23215,26963,12509],"class_list":["post-881694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-advtech","tag-afda","tag-dhet","tag-emeris","tag-stadio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881694"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881742,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881694\/revisions\/881742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}