The Independent Institute of Education

The Independent Institute of Education

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Education
Founded	2005; 19 years ago (2005)[1]
Headquarters	54 Wierda Valley Road, Sandton, South Africa[2]
Area served	South Africa
Key people	Dr Felicity Coughlan (Director) Peter Kriel (General Manager)
Parent	ADvTECH Group
Subsidiaries	Varsity College Vega School Rosebank College The Business School
Website	www.iie.ac.za

The Independent Institute of Education (IIE) is a private higher education institution in South Africa and is a wholly owned subsidiary of investment holding company ADvTECH Group Limited. The IIE confers a range of tertiary qualifications, through various faculties, via a number of academic institutions in South Africa, including Vega, Varsity College, Rosebank College and The Business School at Varsity College. The IIE brand follows a strict standard practice of putting the acronym IIE in front of the name/s of its educational institutions to distinguish them from the intellectual property accident of globally similar names. For example, IIE Rosebank, IIE MSA serve to distinguish these educational institutions from others either in South Africa or elsewhere globally. Monash University's campus in South Africa was acquired by the IIE and ceased to be Monash but MSA (with M for Monash, and SA for South Africa). By default, the IIE does not hold intellectual property rights to the Australian educational heritage name Monash - so MSA is always abbreviated, whether mentioned in text or voice, and never mentioned in full as a name. Secondly, South Africa's private higher education landscape has a history of being prone to 'fly by night' or fake colleges which attract students by riding on the brand names of historically trusted brands such as those owned and operated by the IIE, so this abbreviation preceding the actual name is used as a brand protection innovation for discerning student clients, accreditation agencies and industry peers to differentiate. The IIE continues to be the largest private educational services provider on the African continent, due to its corporate attachment to the parent company, ADvTECH Group.