*Oprah Winfrey is replacing the residential model behind her South African girls’ academy with a wider scholarship program designed to serve more students.
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls will complete its final school year in 2027, PEOPLE reports. After that, Winfrey’s education work will continue through a new initiative expected to support twice as many young women across South Africa.
“The dream was never simply to build a school. It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women,” Winfrey said in announcing the transition.
The academy opened in 2007 through a partnership between Winfrey and former South African President Nelson Mandela. It offered free residential education to high-achieving girls who otherwise lacked access to comparable academic opportunities. More than 1,000 students have graduated during the school’s nearly two decades of operation.
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The 22-acre facility reportedly cost $40 million to develop and included science and computer facilities, a library, classrooms, and a wellness center. Before the campus closes, the academy will graduate two additional classes. Students who have not finished by the end of 2027 will move to other “top-tier schools,” with Winfrey paying their tuition until they graduate, according to a rep for the media mogul. The property will then return to the Gauteng Department of Education under the terms established when the academy was created.
Winfrey described the change as an expansion of her original commitment.
“My mission doesn’t end with one campus. It continues in every girl whose future can be transformed through education,” she said.
“I’m excited that this next chapter will allow us to reach even more young women across South Africa and continue the promise that began more than 20 years ago,” Winfrey added.
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