ABOUT STADIO

At STADIO, we believe in the future of our nation. We want to make a difference by offering greater access to higher education, ensuring that every South African has the opportunity to become the most empowered version of themself. By investing in the human potential all around us, we can grow minds, dreams and employment to ultimately benefit our nation as a whole. 

We take a profound interest in what our students want, and what our country and the world of work needs. We offer higher education specially designed to meet industry requirements and to accommodate our students' diverse lifestyles. At the end of the day, we have an opportunity to not just help individuals realise their dreams, but to help a nation grow stronger. 

The time to do something great for South Africa is now. That’s why we’ve united our collective experience with one goal. To empower the nation by widening access to higher education. 

We have brought together four highly prestigious institutions – Southern Business School, Embury Institute for Higher Education, LISOF and Prestige Academy – with a collective experience of over 100 years in providing quality, affordable higher education. We are proud to offer an array of accredited qualifications via contact, distance and blended learning, across nine campuses, to over 46 000 students.

OUR JOURNEY TO STADIO

STADIO started as a subsidiary of Curro Holdings Limited, which has been a proud provider of pre-school and school-based education since 1998. Curro is the largest independent school group in Africa, and was listed on the JSE in 2011.

In 2013, Curro acquired Embury, a registered private higher education institution, which offers accredited teacher-education qualifications. This was Curro’s first acquisition in the post-school education environment. In light of the needs of the country and the opportunities for growth in higher education in southern Africa, it was a natural progression for Curro to expand its post-school offering.

The Latin word ‘Curro’ can be translated into English as ‘I run’. And the Italian word ‘Stadio’ is translated as ‘stadium’. In Ancient Rome, long-distance races required athletes to run from stadium to stadium to reach the finish line. The progression from Curro to STADIO symbolises the fact that STADIO is the way in which the race for education continues. It also epitomises our ethos of progression and lifelong learning.

In 2017, Curro unbundled its interest in STADIO and listed STADIO Holdings on the JSE in October 2017. The intention was to create a separate listed business, which focuses on higher education with a strong management team and a dedicated anchor shareholder (namely PSG Alpha Investments Proprietary Limited), in order to become the leader in the higher education market in South Africa.

To achieve this goal, STADIO Holdings acquired further prestigious registered higher education institutions, namely AFDA, Milpark Education, LISOF, Prestige Academy and Southern Business School, as well as the business of CA Connect. AFDA and Milpark Education (incorporating CA Connect) operate independently, and the other institutions were consolidated with STADIO to form one STADIO Higher Education institution.