Santam Learnership and Graduate Programme

Written by Thabo MokoenaSenior Education Editor

Reviewed & verified by Naledi KhumaloSenior Admissions and Bursaries EditorVerified

Santam, the short-term insurer, runs two entry programmes through its Skills Development Academy. The first is a Short-Term Insurance Learnership for Matriculants aged 18 to 28. The second is a 24-month Graduate Programme for unemployed graduates aged 22 to 30. The learnership is aimed at school-leavers and ends in a Grade 12-level insurance qualification and the industry’s regulatory exam. The graduate programme is a two-year placement for degree holders across a wide range of fields. Santam describes both on its website but publishes no application dates. On 27 September 2026 neither programme was advertised among the vacancies on Santam’s jobs page.

The Short-Term Insurance Learnership

Santam calls the learnership an entry-level transformation initiative. Its aim is to build a pipeline of people for the financial services sector and to address a skills shortage there. The programme has four parts:

1. Onboarding in core competencies when learners arrive.
2. The anchor qualification, completed while working in the business: the Short-Term Insurance NQF Level 4 qualification (GIFS).
3. Electives chosen by each business unit, taken through Santam’s Technical Skills Academy.
4. Regulatory readiness: RE workshops, mock exams and the final Regulatory Examination (RE5) set by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority.

With the qualification and RE5, a learner can apply for professional membership of the Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA) at the MIISA designation. Santam does not state the learnership’s length, stipend or locations.

Matric marks Santam asks for

Applicants must be 18 to 28 and hold a Grade 12 certificate with at least 40% in English and 40% in a second language. They also need either 40% in Mathematics or 60% in Mathematical Literacy. Maths Literacy learners should notice the higher bar. Santam says it wants as many young unemployed people as possible to take up the programme.

The 24-month Graduate Programme

The graduate programme runs for 24 months, from February of one year to January two years later, and is based in Cape Town or Gauteng. It is open to unemployed graduates aged 22 to 30 with a degree in one of these groups:

Hydrology, geomatics and agriculture are unusual fields for an insurer’s graduate intake. Santam’s product range includes crop and agricultural insurance as well as construction and engineering cover.

Santam’s six programme pillars

Santam combines formal development with on-the-job training and structures the two years around six stages. Graduates settle in through onboarding, step up through an anchor programme, and strengthen core competencies. They then specialise through elective courses from the Technical Skills Academy, stand out through leadership competencies and stretch assignments, and shift into a workplace project. Santam does not publish the salary or say whether graduates are offered permanent posts at the end.

Finding the adverts, and the button to ignore

Neither programme page explains how to apply. Santam’s vacancies appear on its jobs page, which draws its listings from the Sanlam group careers portal. On 27 September 2026 it listed 14 posts, none of them a learnership or graduate intake. Watch that page and Santam’s careers page, which links to both programmes.

Both the learnership page and the graduate programme page show a “Call me back” button. It is Santam’s general insurance enquiry form: it asks for your ID number, says “an adviser will be in touch”, and asks you to agree to terms that include a credit check. It is not a programme application, so do not use it to apply.

Students who still need funding for their studies should read the separate Santam bursary page and Santam’s provider profile. The insurance sector’s own SETA also funds study through the INSETA bursary.

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