Higher Education
While 2024 saw more learners matriculating with Bachelor’ s passes than ever before, capacity challenges in universities persist, leaving many students without a place to further their studies. This, among many other issues, continue to plague the sector and affect students’ chances of academic and life success. As the 2025 academic year began, one thing remained clear: the promised transformation remains elusive.
The problem
At the heart of these recurring challenges is the issue of funding. While NSFAS has enabled many students to access higher education, its ongoing inefficiencies continue to dominate headlines. Delays, shifting policies and a lack of transparency have left university students unable to cover critical expenses. For those who don’ t qualify for financial aid, the burden is even greater, often forcing them into crippling debt or leaving them unable to pursue further education.
Crowdfunding campaigns, while they may be a testament to the resilience of students, expose a system that is failing to meet its most basic promise: equitable access to education. Student accommodation shortages compound these difficulties, with many students finding themselves in precarious living arrangements. Stories of students arriving to check into their residences only to be turned away are not anomalies – they are symptomatic of deeper systemic failures. Public universities are simply not equipped to meet the demand for safe, affordable student housing, leaving thousands of young people in environments that are not conducive to academic success or personal safety and wellbeing.
The capacity crisis worsens the strain on universities, making it even more difficult for students to receive a quality education. With more Matrics earning Bachelor passes in 2024 than ever before, universities are struggling to absorb the influx of students. Overcrowded lecture halls, overworked lecturers and inadequate resources leave even admitted students facing significant hurdles. The result? A diluted educational experience that hampers both academic performance and personal growth.
If these are only a few of the challenges students face at the very beginning of their academic journey, what hope is there for its conclusion? A weak foundation often results in poor outcomes. Higher education institutions are seeing lower throughput rates and, therefore, decreased graduation rates.
As defined by the Council on Higher Education, throughput rates measure the percentage of first-time undergraduate students in a cohort who graduate within the minimum time or up to two years later, and graduation rates are determined by calculating the number of students who graduate against those who had enrolled.
Understanding these rates is crucial to addressing South Africa’ s higher education challenges. This is because throughput is indicative of students’ engagement with academic knowledge and is thus viewed as a measure of academic successes. While access to university is a pressing issue, ensuring that students navigate their studies successfully and graduate is equally vital. High dropout rates signal deeper systemic problems – financial stress, inadequate academic support and socioeconomic barriers – that prevent students from completing their academic programmes. Without meaningful transformation, the sector risks failing those it aims to uplift, perpetuating cycles of inequality and leaving South Africa’ s future workforce at a disadvantage.
Students already battling financial and infrastructural hurdles are less likely to thrive academically, and the ripple effects are felt far beyond graduation. The quality of education suffers when institutions are stretched too thin, and graduates enter the job market ill-prepared for its demands. Youth unemployment, even among graduates – which currently sits at a rate of 45,5 % – underscores the misalignment between higher education and the job market.
As we can see, the same issues that plague the start of the academic year are likely to shape its end. Without meaningful interventions, we will find ourselves ushering in yet another year with the same headlines, the same debates and the same frustrations. This cycle of limited access, constrained resources and unfulfilled promises perpetuates systemic stagnation. If the journey begins on shaky ground, it is no surprise that its conclusion is equally unsteady. www. futuresa. co. za 61