'We have to rethink higher education in SA, from the job market backwards' - Stadio CEO

There are close to 5 million unemployed young people in South Africa, according to the official stats for the second quarter of 2025.

This group will also include those who have some form of tertiary education, but still cannot find jobs.

Stephen Grootes discusses the future of higher education in our country with Stan du Plessis, the new CEO of Stadio Holdings. 

The private group offers undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications.

Du Plessis believes strongly that South Africa needs to start rethinking higher education - from the job market, backwards.

"We need to look at what are the requirements of the job market and that should be the agenda for higher education institutions to deliver. And that is precisely our commitment at Stadio - is to link our programmes very directly the world of work."

Stan du Plessis, CEO: Stadio Holdings

"We have a very well-known inverted pyramid in post-school education where the largest proportion are studying degrees which are actually meant to be for the smallest proportion of school leavers."

Stan du Plessis, CEO: Stadio Holdings

In terms of what is currently available to school leavers, du Plessis ranks efficient scale as the biggest problem in the sector.

He highlights that South Africa has an 'enormous amount' of resources in higher education, which are not delivering commensurate results.

"We spend collectively as a society, a large proportion of GDP on higher education but have far too little to show for it. The challenge is to serve many more school leavers in higher education with the SAME amount of resources and that means we'll have to work much more efficiently."

Stan du Plessis, CEO: Stadio Holdings

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the Stadio CEO's detailed argument