Student Retention & Graduate Destination: Higher Education & Labour Market Access & Success

Returning to 2001's South Africa's National Plan for Higher Education, this group of contributors investigates more thoroughly why students in that study dropped out of universities, what helped them to graduate, and what made for a successful transition to the labor market. Their findings show that a decade after the National Plan the attrition rate at universities rate remains high—with 30 percent of students dropping out in their first year of study and white students graduating at a rate double that of blacks. Recommendations include smoother entry into the labor force and implementation of the new Ministry of Higher Education's plan for continuously improving the access and success, particularly of black students, at all levels of the system.