Matriculants, there’s a career that need needs you

Right now, somewhere in South Africa, a grade 12 learner is staring at a university prospectus, doing maths that has nothing to do with their maths mark. Of the 927 143 candidates who wrote matric in 2025, more than 245 000 passed with a bachelor’s endorsement — good enough, on paper, for university. The problem is, South Africa’s public universities have room for about 235 000 first-years. That’s not a gap. That’s a wall and thousands of this year’s matriculants are about to walk into it. I’m not writing this to scare you. I’m writing it because there’s a door…