South Africa’s high and rising youth unemployment (StatsSA, 2026) is not merely an economic statistic. It is a profound test of the country’s post-1994 promise, and of the institutions entrusted with preparing its future.
Every unemployed young person represents more than a lost opportunity. It is a missed contribution to the economy, a lost chance to develop skills, a potential crime statistic, and a reminder that education must do more than transfer knowledge: it must equip people to use knowledge meaningfully and productively.
Among the many structural, economic and social causes of unemployment, the role of education, particularly Higher Education, deserves urgent scrutiny.
The question universities cannot avoid
As socially located institutions, universities’ primary mandate should be to respond to societal needs. Unfortunately, leadership, curricula and academic skills are often out of step with economic and social demands. Hence, too many graduates leave university with book knowledge, yet are woefully unprepared to face problems, develop solutions and create livelihoods. This is not an argument against academic or fundamental scholarship. Rather, it is a challenge to ensure that scholarship is connected to the needs of society.
When South Africa is benchmarked against countries that built productive, competitive and thriving economies, in these countries it is generally recognised that universities are not isolated centres of learning. They are engines of innovation, skills development and thought leadership. More importantly these Higher Education Institutions actively cultivate partnerships with industry and policy-makers to contribute to national interests while maintaining academic integrity.
Therefore, universities in South Africa must ask themselves the critical questions: What value do they bring to the national project, and how will that impact be measured?
The cost of getting it wrong
Funded by the national fiscus, South African public universities carry a clear responsibility to serve broader developmental priorities. Highlighting this public investment, the Treasury’s May 2025 Budget Overview reported R48 billion in university transfers and R55 billion for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), reflecting the scale of resources dedicated to Higher Education.
That investment carries a substantial responsibility. Universities must be financially astute, well-governed, and, more importantly, yield exponential knowledge dividends that are responsive to the needs of the economy. Therefore, concerns about institutional stewardship – poor management, financial mismanagement, unqualified academics, and the unemployability of graduates cannot simply be dismissed.
The Provocative Critique of South African Public Higher Education by economist, Dawie Roodt (BusinessTech, 16 May 2025), should therefore prompt serious reflection. He raises a fundamental question: With the substantial budget allocated to our public universities, are they delivering the value South Africa urgently needs?
Beyond ‘publish or perish’
For decades, academic culture has been shaped by the imperative to ‘publish or perish’. This is the yardstick many academics are held accountable to. Whilst research and knowledge production are important, publication cannot become the sole measure of academic excellence.
In a country like South Africa that is labouring under immense social, economic, and political pressures, the more pertinent questions are: who benefits from the research, which societal problems does it help address, what is the value of the knowledge produced, and how are students being prepared to create value beyond the classroom?
The regulatory bodies, such as the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), should judge universities not only by the number of papers they produce, but also by the relevance of the curricula, by the quality of the people they develop, and the problems those people are empowered to solve. The goal is not to replace fundamental research with applied knowledge; it is to foster a more productive relationship between the two. Knowledge should illuminate the world and help improve it.
A glimpse of what is possible
A recent UKZN hackathon held in response to Youth Month offers a practical example of this approach: learning to solve a problem. Students from different disciplines worked together on problem briefs addressing issues South Africa cannot afford to ignore: water, food, artificial intelligence, safety, and transport. With guidance on problem-solving processes and mentorship from industry-based experts, they brought the vibrancy and inventiveness of youth to develop innovative responses to complex challenges.
The most important outcome was not a winning team. There was no prize, no podium, and no single winner. Every student was satisfied to leave with something more valuable: the confidence and capability to develop a solution, and ideas with potential investment value. That is what happens when education moves beyond the passive acquisition of knowledge and becomes an active process of creating solutions.
Learning from nature, and from one another
Merging the values of Youth Month and Mandela Month elevated the hackathon into a more profound learning experience. This translated into a nature immersion at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve, engaging with orphaned rhinos, assisting with the cleaning of animal capture pens, and joining skilled rangers on bush walks.
The nature immersion was more than an excursion. It created an opportunity to experience life’s interconnectedness and to reflect on the meaning of ubuntu – a humane understanding of our relationships with one another and with the natural world.
In an age dominated by artificial intelligence, social media, and digital acceleration, universities must also help students recover a sense of connection, responsibility, and empathy. Technological innovation without humanity is not progress.
The needs of a South African university
Universities must undergo a radical transformation, moving from passive observers of the future to active architects of it. This means designing learning experiences that develop the following literacies: problem-solving capability, not merely knowledge recall; entrepreneurial confidence, not only job-seeking competence; interdisciplinary collaboration, not isolated disciplinary thinking; industry and community engagement, not academic detachment; as well as ethical and sustainable judgement, not technical skill without responsibility.
When students move through a university that works this way, they leave as authentic scholars; people with the confidence, skills, and power to take on the systemic challenges that society too often faces, but fails to resolve.
A choice that matters
Albert Einstein is credited with defining education as “what remains, once we have forgotten everything we learned at school”. The deeper meaning is that education should transform the learner, not merely fill the mind with information.
South Africa needs universities that do more than produce qualifications. It needs universities that develop citizens capable of building a better and more sustainable future. This is not a choice between research and relevance, or between scholarship and employability.
The real choice is between an education system that remains satisfied with the publications it produces and one that takes responsibility for what its graduates can contribute to society.
Publish or perish? Or learning to earn, learning to solve, and learning to sustain? Making this choice will be the ultimate test of Higher Education’s relevance.
*Dr Justin Pringle is a Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Civil Engineering, and Dr Rudi Kimmie is the Interim Director at the Aerotropolis Institute Africa. They are both founders of ‘Purpose-driven’ at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
*The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
