South Africa

South Africa’s new R3.2 billion private Afrikaans university being built from scratch in Pretoria

Bianke Neethling • 6 July 2026

Construction is well underway on Akademia’s new campus in Pretoria East, with the project currently ahead of schedule and below budget.

The Akademia campus is the largest project undertaken by the Afrikaans community without government support since the Voortrekker Monument was built in 1949.

Akademia is an independent, Afrikaans-medium higher education institution based in South Africa.

It first opened its doors in 2011 and was registered as a higher education institution in January 2012.

That same year, Akademia welcomed 42 students across four programmes during the institution’s first contact sessions.

Also in 2012, Akademia introduced six teaching centres in Boksburg, Centurion, Die Moot, Roodepoort, Stellenbosch, and Vanderbijlpark.

The institution continued to use these interim solutions until 2021, when it launched its full-time campus model.

As the years progressed, Akademia has continued to grow, now boasting more than 3,800 full-time and part-time students.

Akademia currently boasts two campuses, four residences, two day-houses, and an administrative head office in Centurion.

First announced in August 2024, Akademia’s campus development in Pretoria East is the institution’s most ambitious project to date, spanning 220 hectares.

This project is set to increase Akademia’s capacity by 5,000 students, and will also include residential facilities that can house up to 1,500 students.

It is located in Pretoria East, about eight kilometres from Solomon Mahlangu Drive on the Boschkop Road.

The first phase of the project is now well underway, and Akademia, in collaboration with Kanton, aims to complete it in time for the 2028 first-year students.

In a recent social media post, Akademia managing director Marthinus Visser said the development is currently ahead of schedule.

“From what I understand from the contractors, we are a little ahead of schedule and below budget, so everything looks wonderful, and the excitement is there,” he said.

R3.2 billion investment

Kanton managing director Henk Schalekamp said this project is unique not only due to its scale but also because of its design.

“It seldom happens that an architect gets the opportunity to design a complete university campus from scratch,” he said.

This “from scratch” approach allowed Akademia and Kanton to design the campus exactly as they wanted, with unique features.

“Unlike most campuses that we know, we decided that every faculty will not get its own dedicated building where students study,” Visser explained.

“On this campus, students from all faculties will have classes in all the buildings. This means that there will always be interaction between all students and educators on campus.”

In line with this, the centre of the campus will house the cafeteria and amphitheatre, further encouraging interaction between students on the campus.

“It is beautifully designed, and it is going to look beautiful, but the important thing is that this is where we will get a sense of community – in the heart of the campus,” Visser said.

“What struck me throughout the process was how strong the focus was on the human experience of the campus,” Schalekamp said in a recent article.

“The question was not just what the campus would look like, but what it would feel like to live, work and study there every day.”

“Akademia itself was also part of it from the beginning, and we talked for a long time about the kind of university that Akademia wants to be and the people that need to be formed here.”

He said the question was not just what they were going to build, but also why they were building it.

Undertaking a project of this scale that is built from scratch is not an easy feat and comes at a high cost.

Over R3 billion must be raised to complete the campus, with R1.8 billion needed for the first phase alone.

In an interview with SkoolSlim, Schalekamp explained that the goal is to have the terrain ready by October 2027, so that Akademia can begin preparing the campus for students by January 2028.

The photos below, courtesy of JC van der Linde and Venter Projects’ site manager Kobus Barkhuizen, show the progress of Akademia’s campus development as of July 2026.