{"id":641944,"date":"2026-04-21T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=641944"},"modified":"2026-04-21T07:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T05:33:24","slug":"cyril-ramaphosas-new-university-of-science-and-innovation-versus-solidaritys-new-afrikaans-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/science\/641944-cyril-ramaphosas-new-university-of-science-and-innovation-versus-solidaritys-new-afrikaans-university.html","title":{"rendered":"Cyril Ramaphosa’s new University of Science and Innovation versus Solidarity\u2019s new Afrikaans University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Construction on Solidarity’s new Akademia Campus is in full swing, while Cyril Ramaphosa’s new University of Science and Innovation remains only bushes and a dilapidated building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comparison between the two universities is a lesson in the effectiveness of the private sector versus the government’s poor performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the new University of Science and Innovation in Ekurhuleni during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 13 February 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ekurhuleni is the only major metropolitan area in South Africa without a university, and it made sense to build a new university there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country also lacks science and technology skills, supporting Ramaphosa’s plan to create a new University of Science and Innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President said the new university will train young people in high-impact and cutting-edge technological innovation for current and future industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, the City of Ekurhuleni said it had conducted a feasibility study, which showed immense potential for a university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reached an in-principle agreement with the Department of Higher Education and Training that this university can be established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2024, the City of Ekurhuleni Mayor, Nkosindiphile Doctor Xhakaza, met with the Department of Higher Education Project Steering Committee about the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the second phase of the process towards the establishment of the University,” Xhakaza said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department intended to get the project underway in 2025 on the former Cinderella Prison property and the surrounding land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the land is government-owned and occupies a prominent location overlooking Boksburg, it was selected for the new University of Science and Innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MyBroadband visited the proposed University of Science and Innovation grounds, and found only bushes and a dilapidated building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was clear that not much was happening at this site. There were no signs of any clearing or construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solidarity’s new Akademia Campus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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On 1 August 2024, Solidarity and Kanton announced the new Akademia Campus development project in Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development is located in Pretoria, eight kilometres from Solomon Mahlangu Drive on the Boschkop Road, in the east of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new campus offers Akademia the opportunity to make available a complete and extensive academic programme across all its faculties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This campus will cater for 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,500 postgraduate students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four men’s and four women’s residences on the new Akademia campus will accommodate 1,500 students on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development includes office blocks, lecture halls, laboratories, an auditorium, dedicated research halls, a cafeteria, restaurants, and coffee shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will also be a student centre, library, residences, staff accommodation and world-class sports facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An experimental farm is also planned for the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Agriculture on the new site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Phase one of the project will amount to approximately R1.8 billion and will be completed on 1 January 2028,” said Kanton MD Henk Schalekamp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The second phase involves the completion of the academic campus and residences, followed by the sports facilities, chapel and auditorium.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total development will cost more than R3 billion. Akademia received no funding or assistance from the government for the new university campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2025, a year after the project was announced, Kanton broke ground on the new Akademia campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanton said that 23 kilometres of underground pipes will be laid, with over 19 million litres of water storage space for drinking water, fire safety, and irrigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The construction will take 7.1 million bricks and 110,000 square metres of plaster. Over 40 kilometres of optical fibre cabling will be laid around the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have done the earthworks for both phases together, because we found material needed for phase one in the areas where we would build phase two,” Schalekamp said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This required us to move 360,000 cubic meters of soil and material. This equates to a freight train carrying 10,000 wagons that is 140 km long.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 14 April 2026, Kanton published an update on the project, which showed construction across the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included good progress on the campus buildings, residences, sports fields, roads, and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Solidarity’s new Akademia Campus: Announced on 1 August 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Cyril Ramaphosa’s new University of Science and Innovation: Announced on 13 February 2020<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Construction on Solidarity’s new Akademia Campus is in full swing, while Cyril Ramaphosa’s new University of Science and Innovation remains only bushes and a dilapidated building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":641970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31750],"tags":[72540,1952,104668,69215,143,28861,103156],"class_list":["post-641944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-akademia","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-faculty-of-natural-sciences-and-agriculture","tag-henk-schalekamp","tag-solidarity","tag-state-of-the-nation-address-sona","tag-university-of-science-and-innovation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641944"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641944"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642229,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641944\/revisions\/642229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}