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.
