The Real Higher‑Education Bottleneck Isn’t Space — It’s the System, writes Stan du Plessis
Africa’s youth boom demands new models of scale, from modular learning to technology‑enabled pathways that break the limits of traditional campuses.
It’s no secret that South Africa’s higher education system is under increasing pressure. Each year, more students qualify for and apply for tertiary study than the system can accommodate.
Across the African continent, similar dynamics are playing out as populations grow and demand for education rises. By 2030, the African Union Commission predicts, 40% of the world’s young people will be African, and 75% of Africa’s population will be under 35. More young people are seeking, and will continue to seek, pathways into the economy, and higher education remains one of the most important of those pathways.
The question now is how we respond. How are we going to create enough capacity to accommodate these young people? That will be critical to Africa’s future economic prosperity.
Access as a gateway to opportunity
Access to higher education is closely tied to economic participation. For many, it represents the most direct route into formal employment and long-term career development. At a national level, it plays a critical role in building the skills base required for growth.
When access is constrained, opportunity is constrained with it. Expanding higher education is therefore not only an educational priority, but an economic one.
Why building more is not enough
The obvious answer to rising demand might seem to be building more higher education institutions or enlarging existing campuses. However, while this approach has a role to play, it is insufficient on its own.
Expanding physical infrastructure is capital-intensive and slow. It cannot easily keep pace with the real scale and speed of demand. The truth is that it’s too late to solve the access challenge simply by building enough new institutions. This does not mean expansion is unnecessary. It means that it cannot be the only strategy.
From expansion to productivity
Meeting demand at scale requires a shift in thinking. Instead of asking how to build more of the same system, the more important question is how to make the system more efficient. Scale requires a dramatic improvement in efficiency, which is achieved through rising productivity in the delivery of higher education.
In this context, productivity is not about doing more with less in a reductive sense. It is about enabling more students to access, progress through, and complete higher education, without a proportional increase in cost or a decline in quality.
It also requires institutions to rethink how learning is structured and delivered. We can’t keep doing what we’ve always done or model our efforts on universities in the developed world, where the cost per student is tens of thousands of dollars per year. We need to fundamentally rethink our operating models.
Flexible pathways for diverse students
One of the most important levers for scaling access is flexibility.
The traditional model of higher education assumes a relatively uniform student: full-time, campus-based, and able to progress through a fixed academic calendar. In reality, many students are balancing study with work, family responsibilities, or financial constraints.
More flexible pathways, including part-time options, blended learning, and multiple entry points throughout the year, allow a wider range of students to participate. They also make it easier for students to continue their studies when circumstances change, improving both access and completion. Flexibility will also enable the institution to use its existing resources more efficiently.
Modular learning and stackable progress
Closely linked to flexibility is the idea of modular learning. Breaking qualifications into smaller, recognised components allows students to build their education over time. They can complete parts of a qualification, enter the workforce, and return later to continue their studies.
This reduces the upfront cost and risk of committing to a full qualification, making higher education more accessible. It also aligns more closely with the realities of modern careers, where learning is increasingly continuous rather than confined to a single period of study.
Technology as an enabler of scale
Technology plays a central role in enabling these more flexible and modular approaches.
Technology enables higher education providers to reach students beyond physical campuses, deliver content at scale, and support diverse learning paces and pathways. When used effectively, it can also improve consistency and quality across larger cohorts.
However, technology alone is not a solution. Simply moving traditional lectures online does not address the underlying challenge. To meaningfully scale, technology must be used to redesign how learning is delivered and experienced.
Balancing access, quality and affordability
Any effort to scale higher education must contend with a fundamental tension. Expanding access should not come at the expense of quality, nor should it place education further out of financial reach.
This is where productivity becomes critical. By improving resource use, institutions can expand access while maintaining standards and managing costs.
For students, this means more viable pathways into higher education. For institutions, it means developing models that are both sustainable and responsive to demand.
A shared challenge
Scaling higher education is not a challenge that institutions can address alone.
It requires collaboration across the system. Policymakers play a role in enabling more flexible models and recognising alternative pathways. Employers benefit from a broader and more diverse talent pipeline. Institutions must be willing to rethink long-standing assumptions about delivery and structure.
Globally, higher education needs to address questions of quality and relevance for the future, but the defining challenge of the next decade in our South African context is scale. We must find ways to serve far more students, more effectively.
Dr Stan du Plessis, an economist and academic, is the CEO of STADIO Higher Education.
Higher Education Media Services.