South Africa · Gauteng

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

Ga-Rankuwa, Gauteng · Traditional university

smu.ac.za →

Students, 2024

6,918

0.6% of all public university students

First-time undergraduates

1,161

entering in 2024

Graduates, 2024

1,316

State funding, 2024/25

R932 million

total amount allocated

Who studies what

Students by field

  • Science, engineering & technology6,641 · 96.0%
  • Other humanities & social sciences277 · 4.0%

Students by qualification

  • Occasional students1 · 0.0%
  • Undergraduate certificates & diplomas154 · 2.2%
  • Undergraduate degrees5,069 · 73.3%
  • Postgraduate, below master's284 · 4.1%
  • Master's degrees1,209 · 17.5%
  • Doctoral degrees201 · 2.9%

First-time undergraduates, 2015–2024

2015: 9262024: 1,161

Graduates, 2024

By field

  • Science, engineering & technology1,260 · 95.7%
  • Other humanities & social sciences56 · 4.3%

Graduation rate by level

  • Undergraduate certificates & diplomas48.1%
  • Undergraduate degrees16.8%
  • Postgraduate, below master's82.7%
  • Master's degrees11.9%
  • Doctoral degrees5.5%

A graduation rate here is the year's graduates as a percentage of everyone enrolled at that level — the Department's proxy for throughput, not the share of an intake that finishes. For a three-year degree in which every student graduates on time it would be about 33%, so 15–20% is typical, not a failure rate.

State funding

2019/20R999 million
2020/21R936 million
2021/22R1.04 billion
2022/23R1.13 billion
2023/24R944 million
2024/25R932 million

Total amount the Department allocated to the university each financial year. It is not what students pay.

Fees and entry requirements

South Africa has no national register of fees or admission point scores (APS): each university sets and publishes its own. International-student numbers per university are not in the Department's report either. For both, go to SMU's own site.

Also in Gauteng: University of Johannesburg, University of Pretoria, University of South Africa, Tshwane University of Technology, Vaal University of Technology, University of the Witwatersrand

University type (traditional, comprehensive, university of technology) follows the Council on Higher Education's VitalStats 2022, Appendix 1. The Department counts the same 26 universities as 11 / 9 / 6; the Council lists them 13 / 7 / 6.

Source: Department of Higher Education and Training, Statistics on Post-School Education and Training in South Africa: 2024 (released May 2026). University type from the Council on Higher Education, VitalStats Public Higher Education 2022. City and province added by CollegeMatcher.