To what degree can universities alone save Africa?

Authors: George Asamani, MD, PMI Sub-Saharan Africa & Dr. Sanele W Nhlabatsi, Senior Lecturer, Project Management, UNISA

African universities are facing two crises at once.

The first is scale. Africa is home to the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population, with more than 400 million people aged 15–35 and is expected to have the world’s largest workforce by 2040. Yet tertiary enrolment remains around 9%, far below the global average of 38%. Despite growth in university enrolment, higher education capacity is still struggling to keep pace with demographic demand, with some estimates suggesting capacity would need to expand nearly twelvefold by 2035.

The second crisis is a crisis of expectation. It is not difficult to see why many African families place such a high premium on university education. A degree has long been associated with a life-changing opportunity and a pathway to better job prospects, higher income, and social mobility. This belief has quietly become a burden African youth carry, because when university becomes the only door to success, young people who don’t get in don’t just lose a place; they feel as though they have lost a future.

Universities are globally recognised as producers of knowledge that contribute significantly to national economic development. Consequently, university graduates are strongly associated with a pipeline of emerging professionals, researchers, and innovators who are essential to national progress. This is evident in rapidly developing nations such as China and South Korea, where knowledge, innovation, and higher education policies remain central drivers of national development strategies.

Therefore, Africa absolutely needs strong universities, and we must continue investing in them. But we must also confront a hard truth: when access remains limited, a single-pathway mindset amplifies pressure, anxiety, and a sense of failure among young people who are simply navigating a persistently high-demand, limited-supply system that has become increasingly competitive.

Across the continent, there are far too many young adults competing for too few seats, and South Africa shows what that looks like in real terms: for the 2026 academic year, the public university system could only offer about 235,000 first-year places, while more than 245,000 candidates obtained bachelor-level passes in the 2025 National Senior Certificate examinations. That gap shut the door of the future on at least 10,000 young people.

The situation at South African private universities is even more acute, with more than 100,000 applications competing for fewer than 10,000 coveted spots. This is before accounting for the structural and socio-economic challenges of affordability, limited student accommodation, and other barriers to access.

Societal pressure has resulted in generations of young people believing that university admission is the primary proof of potential and that anything else is second best. This belief has sustained and continues to fuel the growing appeal for higher education. That narrative is deeply out of step with where the global economy is heading.

Today, the world is being shaped by volatility, rapid technological change, geopolitical and geoeconomic uncertainty. The future demands flexibility, particularly as advances in AI continue to reshape the nature of work. Traditional knowledge-based careers are giving way to a skills-based economy, where individuals increasingly apply their expertise across multiple projects and dynamic work environments rather than remaining in fixed, long-term roles.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026 captures the mood of this moment, noting that 50% of global leaders anticipate a turbulent or stormy outlook over the next two years, which is expected to rise further over the next decade. The report also highlights the lack of economic opportunity and unemployment as major risks shaping the global outlook.

In that context, preparing young people for a future where everything depends on a single pathway is not only outdated but also risky. The goal cannot simply be “to get into university.” The goal must be to build employability, enabling young people to earn an income, grow, and adapt to changing conditions.

The defining career advantage in the decade ahead will not be one based on a higher education qualification only. It will be the ability to re-skill and re-enter the economy repeatedly, moving between roles, industries, and opportunities in a technology-based, radically transforming labour market.

There are alternative, non-linear avenues to success, and Africa must begin to treat them as first-class pathways, requiring a fundamental national shift in mindset and focus. Across the continent, the countries that will succeed are those that build strong skills-based ecosystems, where young people can advance through multiple credible routes, including TVET and technical qualifications aligned to jobs, apprenticeships, learnerships linked to real work experience, entrepreneurship, work-integrated learning programmes, and globally recognised professional certifications that signal competence and portability.

In project management, for example, young people can build a career through certifications straight out of high school. They can begin with the foundational Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) as an early-career professional certification. The certification can open doors to employability or entrepreneurial opportunities. The pursuit of a higher education qualification can be targeted for a later phase, informed by a real-world knowledge base requirement. As they gain experience, they can progress toward globally recognised advanced certifications such as the Project Management Professional (PMP).

The reality is unavoidable: even the best universities cannot admit everyone. Expanding and legitimising alternative pathways has the potential to equip the continent’s youth with the skills needed to drive innovation, accelerate economic growth, and advance sustainable development. Africa’s future will not be built by a single educational route, but by an ecosystem of pathways that recognise skills, competence, adaptability, and lifelong learning.

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