As 2025 enters its final quarter, public universities are preparing for yet another challenging admissions season in 2026. They will be turning away hundreds of higher education aspirants who cannot be accommodated in Bachelor’s programmes due to limited space.
This challenge will be the subject of discussion at the first Thought Leadership event of Universities South Africa (USAf) to be hosted at the Future Africa campus of the University of Pretoria on Thursday, 2 October 2025. The engagement, themed “Rethinking Post-School Pathways for Youth Employability in South Africa,” will be hosted in a hybrid format.
During this dialogue, a panel of five experts—representing public universities, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges, and private higher education institutions—will lead discussions with an in-person audience of up to 50. Deliberations will be live-streamed to a nationwide online audience representing higher education policymakers, university Vice- Chancellors, their deputies, registrars, institutional planners, and finance directors. Senior academics, researchers and administrators will also be present alongside representatives from TVET colleges, private sector interest groups, student organisations, and civil society.
This event will be the first in a series of dialogues, each dedicated to a specific higher education challenge.
“While Universities South Africa (USAf) routinely convenes higher education stakeholders to deliberate on matters of shared concern, this marks the first occasion on which such a platform is extended to the broader public,” says Dr Phethiwe Matutu, Chief Executive Officer of USAf. “Our objective is to foster public understanding of the complex challenges facing our sector, addressing them — one issue at a time — and to co-create viable solutions. We will consider it a victory when these engagements lead to solutions and meaningful policy reform.
“Through this first Thought Leadership event, we particularly hope to open the eyes of our young people to the opportunities available to them in post-school education and training – especially opportunities for future employability and entrepreneurship.” Dr Matutu said this event was long overdue, considering the high youth unemployment rate in South Africa and the limited capacity of public universities. “Our youth are the future. It is our responsibility to ensure they all realise their potential.”
Registration is now open. The 50 spaces available for in-person attendance will be allocated on a first-registered, first-served basis.
Universities South Africa
