The demand for student accommodation at universities and colleges in South Africa has grown as more students enter the tertiary education sector.
In 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his State of The Nation Address that the government would be allocating funds to eradicate the lack of student accommodation in the country.
In a recent meeting with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) Acting Director-General, Dr Alec Moemi presented on repurposing infrastructure for the Post Secondary Education System (PSET).
Moemi's presentation focused on the Student Housing Infrastructure Programme (SHIP) which aims to increase student accommodation across all tertiary institutions.
It highlighted that the Strategy Infrastructure Project (SIP) 34 aims to build 300 000 student beds by the year 2030.
The investment value for SHIP is estimated between R80 to R100 billion and Phase One targeted 19 061 beds, while Phase Two targeted 24 896 beds.
The presentation showed the project updates of both phases. Construction is complete at some colleges and universities while it is still ongoing at others around the country.
Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges will be allocated 100 000 student accommodation beds by 2030.
Many are concerned about the progress of the SHIP programme as it has faced challenges such as delays due to no title deeds, rezoning and land claims on rural campuses.
The DPWI says it has engaged municipalities and town planners to find resolutions for these challenges to ensure that the project to increase student accommodation is completed.
