{"id":651133,"date":"2026-06-02T14:05:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=651133"},"modified":"2026-06-02T14:08:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:08:53","slug":"private-afrikaans-university-rises-in-pretoria-and-gets-land-for-western-cape-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/trending\/651133-private-afrikaans-university-rises-in-pretoria-and-gets-land-for-western-cape-campus.html","title":{"rendered":"Private Afrikaans university rises in Pretoria \u2014 and gets land for Western Cape campus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New photos of construction activity at Solidarity’s R3.2-billion Akademia private university campus in Pretoria East reveal substantial progress since the project officially kicked off in January 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akademia recently also announced it secured land for a second comprehensive campus to be built in the Western Cape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francois van Vuuren, real estate director at the campus’s developer, Kanton, shared photos of buildings in the planned academic node of the Pretoria East campus on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facilities in this section will include lecture rooms, laboratories, a student centre and cafeteria, coffee shops, offices, a library, learning centres, and an amphitheatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Akademia campus in Pretoria is making good progress,” he said. “Around 2,500 students and 400 staff are going to be here daily.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campus is set to welcome its first students in January 2028, after its first R1.8-billion phase is completed. It will include the core academic facilities and a residence with beds for 750 students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campus is located on a 220-hectare site in the Mooiplaats area next to Boschkop Road, which connects to Graham Road, about 8km from its intersection with Solomon Mahlangu Drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanton previously highlighted the immense scale of the project, which began with the removal of 360,000 m\u00b3 of soil during ground earthworks in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soil could fill about 10,000 typical train wagons, which would run roughly 140km when connected end-to-end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campus’ infrastructure will include 23km of underground water pipes and 19.3 million litres of water storage, 40km of optical fibre cables, and 30,000m\u00b2 of tar for roads and parking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two main contractors for the development are JC van der Linde and Venter Bouers, which were also responsible for delivering Solidarity’s Sol-Tech technical college campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campus will include courses across all five of Akademia’s existing faculties, which currently offer 20 Department of Higher Education-recognised degrees, certificates, and diplomas, all in Afrikaans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Land secured for Western Cape campus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
View of Akademia’s land for its planned Paarl campus with the Wemmershoek Mountains in the background. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Akademia has operated two smaller full-time campuses with residences in Pretoria for several years. It also launched an interim third campus in Paarl, Western Cape, in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That facility will be replaced by a fully-fledged campus on 105 hectares of land in the Boschenmeer area, near the Paarl campus in the Western Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 29 May, Akademia announced it secured the V\u00eargesig terrain, which is said to have the ideal topography for an integrated campus development that can serve 3,000 students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The property will also be developed by Kanton, which is currently carrying out the required urban planning processes to secure development rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akademia managing director Marthinus Visser said the dream was to build a beautiful campus at the foot of the Wemmershoek Mountains with all the necessary facilities for a residential student campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A waterway flowing into the Berg River provides additional support for the site’s future water needs,” it said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“On clear days, the view stretches from V\u00eargesig to Table Mountain and the Afrikaans Language Museum and Monument.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akademia said the land transaction was made possible by the exceptional goodwill and trust of the community in the Western Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The institution received several appeals from the Afrikaans community in the province to also set up a full-time campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The goodwill of the Afrikaans community in the Western Cape deeply moved everyone involved,” said Kanton managing director Henk Schalekamp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“From the outset, this project testifies to what is possible when communities build a shared future together.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Photos of Akademia Pretoria East university campus construction in May 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Part of the Akademia Pretoria East campus’s academic node under construction in late May 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Construction workers on top of one of the academic node buildings in late May 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Aerial photo showing part of Akademia’s Pretoria East campus under construction in late May 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Structural foundations for buildings at the construction of Akademia’s Pretoria East campus in May 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Buildings begin to take shape on Akademia’s Pretoria East campus in May 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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New photos of construction activity at Solidarity’s R3.2-billion Akademia private university campus in Pretoria East reveal substantial progress since the project officially kicked off in January 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":651236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40380],"tags":[25823,72540,105656,69215,79664,93487,35420,96478,143,31138,8957],"class_list":["post-651133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-afrikaans","tag-akademia","tag-francois-van-vuuren","tag-henk-schalekamp","tag-kanton","tag-marthinus-visser","tag-pretoria","tag-private-universities","tag-solidarity","tag-universities","tag-western-cape"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651133"}],"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\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651133"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651334,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651133\/revisions\/651334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}