Thousands of top students locked out of universities

THE euphoria following one of the country’s best-ever matric pass rates has been tempered by the harsh reality that high marks do not guarantee a place at university.

- ANITA NKONKI, WENDY JASSON DA COSTA and TRACY-LYNN RUITERS

In Johannesburg, universities are already under intense pressure as the 2026 academic year approaches.

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) processed 450 000 applications for its first-year intake of 11 200 students, while Wits University received 160 000 applications for about 5 800 places. Across the country, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) received 326 546 applications for 9 000 first-year places. At the University of Cape Town (UCT), 102 182 applications were submitted for 4 000 places, while the University of the Western Cape (UWC) received more than 177 000 applications for just 4 715 spots.

"It's going to be absolutely catastrophic," said Professor Wayne Hugo of UKZN. "Universities aren't getting enough funding to keep pace with the growth in bachelor passes and the demand for students to access university."

Hugo said NSFAS also cannot fund everyone and blamed the crisis on government underfunding. He encouraged matriculants to focus on technical and vocational qualifications. “Huge organisations like Vodacom, Google, Facebook, and Gemini offer free courses that give globally recognised qualifications,” he said. “Another option is TVET colleges, where students can simultaneously work and acquire skills.”

“What it means is that your chances of finding a job, if you get that kind of qualification, are starting to rise. If you're a lawyer, you can load the case into AI and it'll give you an answer. But if you're a plumber, you need a person to fix the toilet,” he added.