Keypoints:
- Residential academy model ends in 2027
- Gauteng will continue operating the campus
- Scholarships aim to support more girls
OPRAH Winfrey will end the residential model of her South African leadership academy after the 2027 academic year and replace it with a broader scholarship programme designed to support academically talented girls at leading schools across the country.
The change does not mean the Henley-on-Klip campus will stop serving pupils. The Gauteng Department of Education is expected to assume responsibility for operating the facility as a school under the academy’s original partnership agreement, while Winfrey redirects her education funding beyond a single institution.
What is changing?
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, widely known as OWLAG, will graduate two more classes before concluding operations in its current form.
Students who have not completed secondary school by the time of the transition will be placed at other leading schools, with Winfrey paying their tuition until graduation.
A representative for Winfrey told US news outlet People that the scholarship programme would begin after the academy’s remaining pupils had graduated.
The representative said the new approach was expected to provide twice as many girls with access to education through Winfrey’s initiative.
Winfrey described the transition as an expansion of the academy’s mission rather than a withdrawal from South Africa. She said the original ambition was not simply to build a school but to invest in the potential of young women whose futures could be transformed through education.
Campus will remain a school
Descriptions of the announcement as a straightforward closure risk overlooking an important distinction.
OWLAG’s privately funded residential academy model is ending, but the campus is expected to continue functioning as a school under the management of Gauteng education authorities.
Available statements describe an operational handover under the original partnership agreement. They do not separately establish that legal ownership of the property will change.
The transition will be closely watched because South Africa combines internationally recognised educational institutions with deep disparities in access, funding and outcomes.
Africa Briefing has previously examined how South Africa’s economic inequality affects education and employment opportunities.
Mandela vision enters new phase
The academy traces its origins to discussions between Winfrey and former South African President Nelson Mandela about poverty, leadership and education.
OWLAG opened in 2007 to educate academically gifted girls who had experienced poverty and other social disadvantages.
The Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation describes the institution as part of Winfrey’s effort to create an environment in which young women could succeed academically and develop into leaders.
Published graduate totals differ between the foundation’s older profile and recent media reports, making an exact cumulative figure difficult to verify. The academy’s wider impact, however, has included university placements, leadership training and long-term support for its pupils.
The scholarship shift comes as education rises higher on Africa’s public agenda.
An Afrobarometer survey highlighted growing public concern about education, while South Africa continues to dominate the continent’s leading university rankings.
What happens next?
The central questions will be how Gauteng authorities integrate the campus into the provincial education system and how the scholarship programme selects and supports beneficiaries.
Its success will depend not only on the number of girls reached, but also on whether it preserves the academic, pastoral and leadership support associated with OWLAG.
For Winfrey, the 2027 transition recasts the academy’s legacy. One residential campus will no longer anchor her South African education work, but the mission is expected to continue through scholarships and partnerships reaching girls in more communities.
