Higher Education Institutions and Employability in South Africa: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Producing employable graduates who contribute significantly to sustainable economic growth and development has been the main goal of higher education institutions globally. However, there has been a growing concern about the quality of higher education, especially its relevance to the job market. This is because graduates are often found to be employed outside the job markets that universities traditionally prepare them for, and even when they do find employment, how well they perform their work remains a major question. This systematic literature review examined higher education institutions and employability in South Africa, with particular emphasis on how effectively they produce employable graduates. The literature review used a systematic approach to search for relevant studies across 7 academic databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, OpenAlex, Scopus, Lens, Semantic Scholar, and Web of Science. Based on the literature review's inclusion criteria, 1000 publications were initially identified. These included journal articles, books, book chapters, proceedings, datasets, edited books, posted content, reference entries, monographs, peer reviews, and other works on the relationship between higher education institutions and employability from 2015 to 2025. By synthesising and assessing the studies for eligibility, the study identified 25 relevant research articles. The data from the 25 articles were analysed and synthesised to identify the nexus between higher education institutions and employability within South Africa. From the 25 assessed articles, the study found that the adaptation of South African higher education institutions to the Four Industrial Revolution (4IR), the use of online learning tools and AI, government expenditure on higher education student performance, graduates’ employable skills and competencies, digitalisation, quality assurance and globalisation of the South African higher education systems were crucial in increasing the graduates’ chances of employability. In addition to the review, the study also summarised the determinants of graduates’ employability. To increase graduates’ employability, this study therefore recommends increasing work-integrated learning (WIL), skills-enhancing activities, mentorship programs, and transversal competencies.