South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis is more than an economic problem. It is also a challenge to the country’s education system and its ability to prepare young people for a rapidly changing world.
With youth unemployment remaining stubbornly high, universities face a difficult but important question: Are they preparing students for the realities beyond the lecture hall?
Higher education cannot solve unemployment on its own. Economic growth, labour-market conditions, access to opportunities and broader structural challenges all play a role.
But universities have an important part to play in ensuring that graduates leave with more than academic qualifications.
From qualifications to capability
For generations, academic institutions have been built around knowledge production, research and professional qualifications.
Those functions remain essential.
The challenge is ensuring that academic knowledge is connected to the problems facing society.
Too many graduates can leave university with substantial theoretical knowledge but limited experience in applying that knowledge to real-world problems, working across disciplines or identifying opportunities to create value.
Universities therefore need to ask themselves not only what students are learning, but what students can do with what they have learned.
That means placing greater emphasis on problem-solving, innovation, entrepreneurship, collaboration and practical experience alongside traditional academic learning.
South Africa’s investment in higher education
The scale of public investment in higher education makes this conversation particularly important.
According to the National Treasury’s 2025 Budget Overview, R48 billion was allocated in university transfers, while R55 billion was allocated to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
Such investment comes with a responsibility to ensure that higher education institutions are effectively governed and that the benefits extend beyond individual qualifications.
This does not mean measuring universities purely by graduate employment figures or abandoning fundamental research.
Research remains critical to developing new knowledge.
But academic success should not be reduced to publication numbers alone.
A broader question needs to be asked: What impact does knowledge have once it leaves the university?
Moving beyond ‘publish or perish’
Academic culture has long placed significant emphasis on publishing research.
There is clear value in producing peer-reviewed knowledge, but publication should not become the only measure of academic contribution.
South Africa faces complex challenges involving water, food security, transport, public safety, technology, climate resilience and economic development.
Universities are uniquely positioned to bring together researchers, students, government, communities and industry to work on these problems.
The objective should not be to replace fundamental research with applied research.
Instead, the two should reinforce each other.
Knowledge should help us understand the world — but it should also give society better tools to improve it.
A university hackathon offers a glimpse of the future
A recent University of KwaZulu-Natal hackathon provides an example of what this approach can look like in practice.
Students from different disciplines were challenged to develop responses to real-world problems involving areas such as water, food, artificial intelligence, safety and transport.
With mentorship from industry professionals and guidance on structured problem-solving, students were encouraged to move from identifying problems to developing possible solutions.
The emphasis was not simply on producing a winning project.
The experience was designed to give students something more lasting: confidence in their ability to tackle complex challenges and develop ideas with potential practical and commercial value.
That shift — from absorbing information to applying knowledge — is crucial.
Education must also develop humanity
The university experience cannot be reduced to employability and technical skills.
Students are also entering a world shaped by artificial intelligence, social media, environmental pressures and rapid technological change.
They therefore need opportunities to develop empathy, ethical judgement, responsibility and a deeper understanding of their communities.
The same UKZN programme incorporated a nature immersion at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve, where students engaged with conservation work and experienced the realities of environmental stewardship.
Experiences such as these can help connect academic learning with broader questions about society, sustainability and ubuntu.
Technology may transform the workplace, but human judgement and responsibility remain essential.
What should the university of the future look like?
South African universities have an opportunity to rethink what success looks like.
That could mean giving greater attention to:
- Problem-solving rather than knowledge recall alone
- Entrepreneurship alongside traditional employment pathways
- Interdisciplinary collaboration instead of academic silos
- Industry and community engagement alongside classroom learning
- Ethical and sustainable decision-making alongside technical expertise
The aim is not to turn every student into an entrepreneur or abandon traditional academic disciplines.
Rather, it is to ensure that graduates can apply what they know, adapt to changing circumstances and contribute meaningfully to society.
The real test of higher education
South Africa needs universities that produce researchers, professionals and scholars — but it also needs institutions that help young people become capable problem-solvers and contributors to the economy and society.
The question is therefore bigger than whether universities are producing enough graduates.
It is whether those graduates are leaving with the confidence, skills and practical experience to create opportunities, solve problems and respond to challenges that extend far beyond the university campus.
The debate should not be research versus employability or academic excellence versus practical relevance.
The bigger challenge is finding a model in which both work together.
For South Africa’s universities, the ultimate measure of relevance may not simply be how many qualifications or research papers they produce, but what their graduates go on to build, solve and change.
The question is no longer simply “publish or perish?” It may be whether universities can teach young people to learn, earn, solve and sustain.
Dr Justin Pringle is Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Civil Engineering, and Dr Rudi Kimmie is Interim Director at the Aerotropolis Institute Africa. Both are founders of “Purpose-Driven” at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
