Higher education must align with MTBPS 2025

THE recent Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) by Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana sets out the country's focus points to improve the conditions of many South Africans.

- AWAM MAVIMBELA

At first glance, the MTBPS may appear to prioritise macroeconomic instability and infrastructure.

However, beneath its technical layout, unintentionally, the minister's statement sets out South Africa's national agenda that higher education must not ignore to avoid the continued production of unemployable graduates.

The MTBPS provides a blueprint for the state's future growth nodes. Therefore, it suggests prioritising fields which need quota admission expansion in the higher education sector in the upcoming university admission peak season.

The MTBPS is not just a fiscal document but a strategic lens through which higher education and training must rethink its programme of action.

Because the first powerful signal is the centrality of infrastructure as a growth engine.

In higher education, this speaks to fields like, inter alia, core engineering, built environment courses, infrastructure policy, governance courses, financial courses, digital technology courses, and project delivery management skills.

Godongwana's speech frames capital investment as the state's primary lever for long-term investment.

Moreover, capital payments are projected to be the fastest-growing expenditure item over the medium term, and public infrastructure spending is expected to exceed R1 trillion in the next three years.