Tag: higher education

In a landmark development for South Africa’s tertiary education landscape, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has officially gazetted the Policy for the Recognition of South African Higher Education Institutional Types (Government Gazette No. 53515, 17 October 2025).

South Africa is undermining its own growth if it doesn’t consider the meaningful impact of private institutions in solving capacity constraints in higher education. The oversubscribed demand for public universities reflects a far more profound systemic issue.

The demand for highly skilled and adaptable professionals has never been greater. As businesses navigate the complexities of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the digital era, they require graduates equipped not only with technical expertise but also with the soft skills and innovative mindsets necessary to thrive in this dynamic environment.

As South Africa continues to grapple with its massive youth (15-34 years) unemployment rate of 4.7 million individuals (Q4 2023), there is a critical need for innovative approaches to skills development and employability. I view learnerships as an excellent platform for creative training methodologies thereby, paving the way for a more agile and adaptable workforce.

A study commissioned by Inyathelo, the South African Institute for Advancement, has revealed a significant increase in philanthropic funding for South African universities. However, the research also exposes deep-seated disparities in funding distribution that continue to plague the higher education sector.

Higher education institutions have long been considered to be the repositories of knowledge and learning and the structures through which knowledge is produced and disseminated. They have survived sweeping societal changes created by technology – the moveable-type printing press, previous industrial revolutions, information and communication technologies, electronic media and computers.

For once, the age-old tale that school life was 'much harder back in my day' could not be further from the truth. The class of 2020/2021 are enduring one of the most difficult global events in recent memory, and they are doing so while juggling concerns over grades, exams, and future employment.

Lack of peer contact and motivation have emerged as two of the key challenges that faced higher education students last year after institutions took teaching online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, a survey has shown.