Public higher education institutions must shape up to serve national interests
Images & caps
Public universities and colleges need to become more efficient and producee graduates that are more employable.
Winning nations around the world such as the US, the Netherlands, South Korea and the Nordic countries have highly productive higher education institutions that strive to serve their national interests. Therefore, it was timeous to read
BusinessTech
.
Roodt's thought-provoking, critical, yet pertinent, article drew a distinction between thriving private higher education institutions and failing public (state-funded) universities in South Africa. He made the provocative suggestion that the number of public universities should be reduced and that the government should allocate more funds to private institutions which, by implication, appear to be more productive.
He argues that many public institutions are poorly run, prone to mismanagement, and are out of touch with market realities, hence contributing to the rising number of unemployed graduates.
While Roodt's comments shouldn't be generalised across all South African public institutions they shouldn't be dismissed either, because they raise critical questions about the value that universities, public and private, bring to serving national interests.
Consider the high cost of the public higher education sector. According to the treasury's Budget Overview (21 May 2025), the total cost for learning and culture is R505.6 billion. This includes R332 billion on basic education, R55 billion on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and R48 billion on university transfers. With many of the public institutions running huge deficits because of high operational costs, compounded by financial mismanagement, unjustifiably high salaries of senior executives, and the constant controversies at NSFAS, Roodt's comments deserve urgent reflection.
Access to higher education is a sensitive issue based on South Africa's turbulent and divisive political history when many were denied access to education. But access to universities should be prioritised for learners with the academic aptitude to pursue the study paths suited to their capabilities. Further, these career paths must be aligned with the job market.
It's fine to argue that universities teach critical thinking and develop higher cognitive abilities, but these mean nothing if not underpinned by how to use critical thinking to solve problems. After all, ponder the words of Washington Post columnist Thomas Friedman who wrote, 'The world doesn't care about what you know. The world only cares about what you can do with what you know and it doesn't care about how you learnt it.' Friedman, cuts to the chase of what teaching and learning are about. Access should be enhanced but students should be directed to institutions best suited to their chances of success.
There should also be greater scrutiny on how public institutions manage their resources, productivity and relations with broader society for the following reasons: the high cost burden on the public purse and how effectively it serves the needs of society through employability. From both perspectives, the picture is disappointing. Many of the public institutions run high budget deficits due to poor financial management.
And Statistics South Africa's Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the last quarter of 2024 showed grim youth employment levels. Youths aged 15 to 24 and 25 to 34 years continue to have the highest unemployment rates at 59.6% and 39.4%, respectively. Even though the graduate unemployment rate decreased by 1.1 percentage points from 9.8% in the third quarter of 2024 to 8.7% in the fourth, these are still unacceptably high numbers of unemployed graduates.
There's no doubt that public higher education institutions are contested spaces, complex and highly politicised. But as institutions supported by the public purse there needs to be high levels of accountability with strict performance management metrics in place.
It can be argued that one of the core reasons for failing institutions is the prevailing 'ivory tower' mentality. Many public institutions are too insular and inward looking, with little engagement with market trends and the world of work. Academics in most cases operate in isolation from 'real world' dynamics largely because of the 'publish or perish' demands which pursue research for publications to secure status, funding and professional career advancement.
The entire value chain in higher education, academic institutions and research bodies adheres to this practice which measures academic success through quantitative research output metrics such as publication count, journal effectiveness and number of citations. These metrics influence recruitment, promotion, as well as access to funding, forcing academics to churn out research without consideration for its value-adding impact on society.
In this Youth Month, where our most critical resource, our youth, face a future of hopelessness because of high unemployment, a moribund economy, high levels of crime, increasing climate threats and global uncertainty, there's an urgent need for reflection and inclusive conversations. Education practitioners should create opportunities for wider consultations on the failings and successes and how these can be remediated and built upon to convert a national resource into a strategic national asset.
But to achieve the full value of our higher education, hard decisions need to be made. The higher education sector needs in place the right heads, hearts and hands. A case in point is the recent debacle over the Minister of Higher Education and Training Nobuhle Nkabane's irregular appointment of Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) board chairpersons. When this type of thinking cascades down the line of command to higher institutions, it becomes a recipe for disaster.
In his article, Roodt places emphasis on the need 'to shift in South Africa and start to produce the skills we really need'. One should add that this shift should be systemic, starting with recruitment and appointments. Senior executive positions often prioritise scholarly achievements rather than evidence-based managerial skills such as managing budgets, motivating staff, stewarding relationships and planning strategic future-focused endeavours.
In addition, most academics have never worked in private, corporate or industrial enterprises because the path to employability is based on attaining a postgraduate qualification. Few even have a robust grasp of epistemology, andragogy or didactic fundamentals.
And with many learners coming from a struggling secondary schooling sector, the focus should be on dynamic teaching that empowers students to learn independently and be less dependent on rote learning. This should also be supported by academic content that promotes entrepreneurial thinking, innovation and that aligns with market trends and job opportunities.
It was Albert Einstein, not only a brilliant physicist but also an astute social commentator, who defined education as, 'what remains, once we have forgotten everything we learned at school'. Einstein understood the essence of education; education that is transformative, that transcends rote and book learning; education that fully lives up its Latin roots, 'educare' which means 'to nourish'
.
It is these values that are required to create a better and a more sustainable South Africa.
Rudi Kimmie (PhD) is an independent education consultant. He writes in his personal capacity.
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While Roodt's comments shouldn't be generalised across all South African public institutions they shouldn't be dismissed either, because they raise critical questions about the value that universities, public and private, bring to serving national interests. Consider the high cost of the public higher education sector. According to the treasury's Budget Overview (21 May 2025), the total cost for learning and culture is R505.6 billion. This includes R332 billion on basic education, R55 billion on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and R48 billion on university transfers. With many of the public institutions running huge deficits because of high operational costs, compounded by financial mismanagement, unjustifiably high salaries of senior executives, and the constant controversies at NSFAS, Roodt's comments deserve urgent reflection. Access to higher education is a sensitive issue based on South Africa's turbulent and divisive political history when many were denied access to education. But access to universities should be prioritised for learners with the academic aptitude to pursue the study paths suited to their capabilities. Further, these career paths must be aligned with the job market. It's fine to argue that universities teach critical thinking and develop higher cognitive abilities, but these mean nothing if not underpinned by how to use critical thinking to solve problems. After all, ponder the words of Washington Post columnist Thomas Friedman who wrote, 'The world doesn't care about what you know. The world only cares about what you can do with what you know and it doesn't care about how you learnt it.' Friedman, cuts to the chase of what teaching and learning are about. Access should be enhanced but students should be directed to institutions best suited to their chances of success. 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But as institutions supported by the public purse there needs to be high levels of accountability with strict performance management metrics in place. It can be argued that one of the core reasons for failing institutions is the prevailing 'ivory tower' mentality. Many public institutions are too insular and inward looking, with little engagement with market trends and the world of work. Academics in most cases operate in isolation from 'real world' dynamics largely because of the 'publish or perish' demands which pursue research for publications to secure status, funding and professional career advancement. The entire value chain in higher education, academic institutions and research bodies adheres to this practice which measures academic success through quantitative research output metrics such as publication count, journal effectiveness and number of citations. 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