Damelin is a private college founded in 1943 by Benjamin Damelin. It has 9 campuses in
South Africa and is owned by
Educor (the Education Investment Corporation Limited) group.[8][7][10][2][3][4] Damelin offers degrees, diplomas and other higher qualifications, but is considered a college instead of a university due to the regulations for tertiary institutions in
South Africa.[11] Damelin is the oldest and most profitable education subsidiary owned by Educor.[3] By November 2012, over one million students had graduated from Damelin.[12] In March 2024 it was deregistered for non-compliance along with other institutions under the Educor umbrella, CityVarsity, Intec and Lyceum College. The group has been accused by the Minister of Higher Education and Training of "unethical conduct, dysfunctional practices, bribery and other elements of corruption."[13]
Educor is a wholly owned division of A1 Capital, owned by
Leo Chetty. It is one of the largest education service providers in Africa.
History
In 1943, Benjamin Damelin established Damelin as a "cramming college for white students".[3] In 1951, Johann Brummer joined Damelin as a teacher,[3] in 1952, becoming a partner and serving as Educor's Executive chairman until his resignation in 1998.[3] One of the key aspects in the development of the Damelin name was initiated in 1952 when Brummer started developing materials for long-distance learning, which later became the
Damelin Correspondence College in 1955.[3][4]
In the early 1960s, Damelin began offering evening classes at what would later become their Johannesburg Campus .[3] In 1968, the Damelin Management School was established and offered education and training to adults for the attainment of Damelin certificates.[3][4] In the 1970s, many of the prisoners imprisoned on
Robben Island were registered as students of Damelin.[14] In 1985, the Damelin Computer School, which only offered part-time programs at the time, was established in Johannesburg.[3][4]
By 1991, Damelin had started offering contact instruction to
University of South Africa students, which had been established for middle-class African students who were unable to gain entry into universities of higher prestige with higher level education.[15] All these programs were coordinated at the same Johannesburg site for many years until 1993, when the
Braamfontein Campus was founded.[3] In 1998, the
University of Pretoria approached the Damelin Computer School to facilitate the computer training of residential students of the University of Pretoria on their main campus[16][17] because their IT faculty was better suited to training undergraduates than the University of Pretoria's.[17]
By 2005, Damelin was the only institution in Southern Africa whose
Bachelor of Commerce degrees were recognized by the
Oxford Brookes University, a university established in 1992.[18] In 2007, Damelin aligned their programs with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF)[19] and by 2008, Damelin was offering more than 200 NQF programs.[19] In 2008, Educor was purchased by National Pride Trading 452 as a going concern[2] and started integrating the Damelin School of Banking and Insurance's academic operations as part of their offerings.[20]
In 2013, Pacofs signed a three-year contract with Damelin for the training of
audio engineers.[21]
In October 2013, the Damelin Gaborone campus cut its ties with Damelin South Africa and renamed itself.[22]
From November 2013 as part of an initiative in the South African education sector called Project Athena, the South African telecommunication company
Telkom has pledged to give over 40 000
SIM cards to Damelin students over the course of three months. In the next phase of this project,[when?] free Wi-Fi access is to be implemented across selected Damelin campuses for students to use.[23][24][25]
Accreditation and registration
In South Africa, institutes providing education are required to obtain accreditation with one of the 33 Education & Training Quality Assurance bodies (ETQAs) which are in turn accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).
Damelin, and its various campuses held provisional accreditation with Umalusi. In 2024 however it was deregistered and ordered to cease operating.[13] This followed the loss of accreditation of some programmes and years of complaints from students who failed to receive requested "study materials, online access, assignment and exam results, certificates and refunds owed to them".[26]
Mode of delivery
While other institutions under Educor offer other modes of delivery, (e.g. correspondence), Damelin focuses on the following face-to-face modes:
Full-time tuition, learners register to study full-time.
Part-time tuition, where employed individuals take classes after work or on Saturday mornings.
Corporate training, where courses, or modules thereof are condensed into full day events spanning a few days or a week.
Qualifications and certificates
Damelin runs programmes that culminate in a variety of forms of recognition, such as programmes leading to:
Certificates conferred by Damelin
Certificates conferred by ETQAs
Certificates conferred by international institutions
Certificates recognising achievement for skills based courses which do not fall into the category of a full qualification.
Organisation and administration
Damelin is a subsidiary of Educor and most of the organisational and administrative duties are handled by Educor.
Student life
Students have access to the College Driver Programme, a programme coordinated on each campus by Damelin and
Toyota that allows students to practice their basic parking and driving techniques.[27]
Prospective students have the option to undertake a free career analysis that will assist them in deciding which course and career path is most suitable for them.[27][28]
Students are elegible for a partial bursary based on their cultural, academic or athletic performance in high school as part of the Damelin Achiever Bursary Awards initiative.[29] The discounts are not cumulative and they are granted based on the highest level of achievement of the student.[29] The following table illustrates the extent to which a student's fees may be discounted.
Damelin Achiever Bursary Awards
Discount
Sports
Academic, cultural and other awards
50%
National Colours
Head prefect
30%
Provincial Colours
Deputy head prefect
20%
Regional Colours
Honour roll, prefect, captaincy
10%
First Team
Full colours
Students who study for the Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and Business Management, Accounting or Information Management can download course material from Damelin's website.[29]
Students will have free access to Wi-Fi facilities on selected campuses as per the next phase of Project Athena, in which Telkom will provide Wi-Fi infrastructure to campuses.[23][24][25]
This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2022)
Campuses
Damelin has 9 campuses across South Africa in various cities, including but not limited to Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, and East London.[7]
All of the current campuses are situated within South Africa's borders in five of South Africa's nine provinces:
Eastern Cape,
Gauteng,
Kwa-Zulu Natal and
Western Cape,[7] the first of which was established in the 1960s in Johannesburg, Gauteng.[3][4]
Eastern Cape
There is a campus based in the Eastern Cape;[30] which is
East London.[30] The East London campus was established in 1992.[4]
Gauteng
There are four campuses based in Gauteng.[31] These campuses in Gauteng can be located in
Boksburg,
Braamfontein, Menlyn,
Randburg.
Damelin's presence in Gauteng is central to its history and operation as one of the first campuses was founded there in the 1960s and their head office relocated to Braamfontein in 1992.[4]
The Boksburg campus is located in Jacobs Street.[32] It is noted for its social events such as
beauty pageants and fun days as well as its social outreach programs.[33][34][35] It is also known for quality education.[36][37] The Boksburg campus is also the first ever tertiary institute in South Africa to establish a
bird sanctuary.[38][39]
The Braamfontein campus was founded in 1993 and is located on the corner of Simmons and De Korte Street.[3][40] The Braamfontein Campus is also located on an entire block, allowing it to be seen from all angles.[41] It is also within walking distance of a
Gautrain station.[41]
The Randburg campus was founded in 1997 and is located on the corner of
Malibongwe Drive and Republic Road.[4][42] It is home to the Randburg Campus Library[43] as well as the Randburg School of Business and Management, which is a member of the One Palmes League as per
Eduniversal's rating system.[44] On Wednesday 4 December 2013, the campus proudly received ISO 1900:2008 certification from the
South African Bureau of Standards, marking a significant milestone for the entire Damelin education group.[45] The Randburg campus sets the benchmark for the other 16 campuses and it serves 2500 students, making it the largest of the 17 campuses.[45]
Kwa-Zulu Natal
There are three campuses based in Kwa-Zulu Natal.[46] The campuses in Kwa-Zulu Natal can be found in
Durban and
Pietermaritzburg.[46]
The Cape Town city campus was established in 2010.[4]
Faculties, departments and schools
Damelin has various faculties, departments and schools,[50] namely:
Faculty of Commerce, Leisure and Information Technology:[50] The Faculty of Commerce, Leisure and Information Technology specializes in accounting,
ICT, and travel and tourism.[51] The qualifications in the Faculty range from certificates to diplomas and
Bachelor of Commerce degrees.[51] The Diploma in Information Technology, which carries 360 credits with an NQF rating of 6,[52] is more affordable than similar courses offered by the
University of the Witwatersrand,
Rhodes University and the University of Pretoria.[53]
Faculty of Management Sciences and Communication:[50] The Faculty of Management Sciences and Communication specializes in various professional fields such as
journalism, public relations, human resources management, marketing and business management with various diplomas and a Bachelor of Commerce degree on offer.[54]
Faculty of Creative Arts:[50][55] The Faculty of Creative Arts specializes in the fields of
graphic design,
photography and various audio technologies.[55]
School of Business, Management and Corporate Training:[50] The School of Business, Management and Corporate Training caters for students who are interested in studying business related subjects that include courses like general finance and public relations.[9] The School of Business, Management and Corporate Training is one of the best 1000 business schools in the world.[56]
School of Media and Design Technology:[50] The School of Media and Design Technology is the largest full-time school in Damelin with a selection of 13 programmes offered over a range of creative media, design and performing art disciplines.[9][57] The School of Media and Design Technology offers courses in fashion design, interior design, presenting and digital photography.[58] Sound Engineering is offered as part of the School of Media and Design Technology at the Bramley campus.[59]
School of Information Technology:[50] The School of Information Technology caters for students by providing a variety of computer related programmes to them.[9]
School of Management and Humanities:[50] The School of Management and Humanities offers diplomas across various disciplines, such as
tourism, management and
public relations.[61]
School of Leisure and Lifestyle:[50] The School of Leisure and Lifestyle caters to students interested in a wide variety of career paths in various fields, such as game ranging and hotel management.[9][62]
School of Banking and Insurance:[50] The School of Banking and Insurance, which was founded in 1993 in Johannesburg, is a specialist division of Damelin that deals with banking and insurance as well as other financial professions.[4][10][63] The School of Banking and Insurance's courses are offered at the Braamfontein and Pretoria City campuses.[64] The School of Banking and Insurance has been involved in the
Adult Basic Education and Training programme which aims to improve the education of adults.[63]
Department of Business Management:[50] The Department of Business Management specializes in various fields of business and offers a range of certificates in accounting, business management and public administration.[65]
Department of Media and Communication:[50] The Department of Media and Communication offers two certificates specializing in journalism and public relations respectively.[66]
Department of Information Technology:[50] The Department of Information Technology offers a single certificate, specializing in the principles of information technology.[65]
Department of Tourism and Event Management:[50] The Department of Tourism and Event Management offers one qualification: a certificate specializing in travel and tourism.[67]
Centre of Excellence:[50] The Centre of Excellence is a division of Damelin that offers a range of diplomas to prospective students.[68]
Awards and accolades
In 2005 a survey conducted by Markinor amongst a sample of fifty recruitment agents revealed that individuals who studied at Damelin and attained their qualifications there were more likely to be hired than individuals educated elsewhere due to the fact that Damelin's qualifications satisfy both the vocational and the professional requirements of both the
marketplace and students.[69]
Damelin's various campuses have varying degrees of the PMR.africa award that serve to recognize the high standard of education offered by the award recipient. On 5 November 2012 the
Boksburg campus won the Diamond Arrow award for being the best higher education institution in the whole of Johannesburg.[36][37] The 2012 PMR.africa Gold Award was given to the
Boksburg campus on 3 December 2012 for being the best higher education institution in the
Ekurhuleni region.[36] The Cape Town city campus was awarded with a Silver Arrow award on 22 April 2013 for their hard work and excellence in the category "College/Institutions for Higher Education".[70] Damelin Kwa-Zulu Natal (all the Damelin campuses in the province) won a Silver Arrow award in the category "Colleges/Training Institutions" on 14 October 2013.[71]
In 2007, Damelin partnered with Ocean Experience to promote the safe use of oceans.[73]
Since 2009, Damelin has been the title sponsor for the annual Damelin Rugby Night Series, which is a high school
rugby tournament for boys' teams.[74][75]
In March 2013, hundreds of students from the Durban City campus took to the streets to express their support against
rape and
violence against women.[82]
On 9 September 2012, the investigative journalism program Carte Blanche aired a feature called "Arrested Development"[98] in which the legitimacy of Damelin's qualifications was questioned.[99] Damelin was quick to set the record straight and address the issue[100] and even
Debora Patta was quoted as saying "Damelin has a good name and is a trusted brand."[100]