Case Study: University of Pretoria achieves campus-wide BYOD Wi‑Fi and increased student engagement with HPE Aruba Networking

Students and Staff Both Win as Wi-Fi Enables a Bringyour-Own Experience on Campus

The University of Pretoria (UP), home to roughly 50,000 students and 500 staff at its main Hatfield campus, needed free, campus‑wide Wi‑Fi to remain competitive, improve access to learning (labs were full and internet is costly in South Africa) and encourage students to spend time on campus. The project also had to overcome practical challenges—large grounds, old buildings, authentication integration and stakeholder buy‑in—while shifting ownership of the rollout from IT to the academic community.

Working with Aruba Networks and local partner Alpine, UP piloted and then deployed a Mobility‑Defined network (about 1,000 indoor AP‑135s, 40 outdoor AP‑175s, Mobility Controllers, Aruba AirWave and ClearPass, plus Eduroam) to create indoor/outdoor Wi‑Fi corridors and a BYOD experience. The rollout increased student engagement and attendance, simplified guest access and reduced administrative overhead, provided measurable adoption via Google‑account authentication, delivered competitive advantage, and set the university up for phased expansion and ROI over the next two years.

University of Pretoria

Wimpie Beeken

Wi-Fi Project Programme Manager