South African universities show resilience in philanthropic giving despite widening digital and structural divides.
South African universities have experienced a massive post-pandemic surge in philanthropic funding, collectively raising a record-breaking R2.4 billion in a single academic year, according to a major new report.
The findings, published by Inyathelo: The South African Institute for Advancement in its latest Annual Survey of Philanthropy in Higher Education (ASPIHE) reports, cover the 2023 and 2024 academic years. The data reveals an extraordinary long-term trajectory for the sector, with the R2.4 billion raised in 2023 representing a near-quadrupling of the R659 million recorded when the survey began in 2013. Although philanthropic income experienced a minor consolidation to R2.32 billion in 2024, total advancement income—which includes funding from Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs)—still reached an impressive R2.7 billion.
However, the celebratory figures mask a deeply entrenched structural crisis. the reports warn starkly over the persistent inequalities between historically advantaged and historically disadvantaged institutions (HDIs), particularly as a rapidly accelerating digital revolution threatens to leave underfunded universities behind.
