SA universities unable to accommodate 10,000 qualified students

THE public university system can only offer about 235 000 first-year places for the 2026 academic year - 10 000 fewer than the number of matric candidates who qualified with a bachelors pass.

- THEOLIN TEMBO

The scope of this issue was revealed yesterday during a social services cluster media briefing by the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Tebogo Letsie.

“We have 235 000 spaces for first-time entering students at our public universities, whereas basic education produced 245 000 students with bachelor's passes. So, the difference there is 10 000 students. It is not what we desire,’ Letsie said. He added that the higher education sector has also increased spaces for first-time entering students this year by 33 000 because last year they had 202 000 spaces.

“We're now at 235 000. It's a gradual increase, and we've indicated that the reason why we're increasing this way is that we have enrolment targets that are linked to the budget.

“It will be very dangerous for us to increase, let's say, for example, to 250 000 university spaces this year when we can't afford to pay for those students. So, it's a gradual increase that is linked to the budget,” Letsie said.

He also urged prospective students to watch for emails from universities, as there are timelines to follow when accepting or declining admission offers.