The 144,000 Student Gap: Can AI Fix South Africa’s Tertiary Capacity Crisis?

Here's a number that should stop every South African in their tracks: 144,000. That's how many qualified matriculants—young people with the grades and the desire to study further—were shut out of public universities in 2025 due to lack of space. Not lack of ability. Not lack of ambition. Lack of space.

In 2026, the crisis has deepened. Our public universities are bursting at the seams, lecture halls are overflowing, and residence waiting lists stretch longer than ever. The Class of 2025, armed with their National Senior Certificates, now faces a future of uncertainty—not because they failed, but because the system simply cannot hold them. This isn't just an education crisis. It's an economic time bomb, a social justice failure, and a national tragedy unfolding in slow motion.

But what if the solution isn't more bricks and mortar? What if the lecture hall of the future doesn't have walls at all?

The Capacity Trap: Why Building More Isn't the Answer

The instinctive response to a capacity crisis is to build more universities, more lecture halls, more residences. But even if the billions of rands were available—which they aren't—construction timelines mean today's matriculants would be in their thirties by the time new seats appeared. We need solutions that work in months, not decades.

The hard truth is that South Africa cannot build its way out of this problem. We have to tech our way out. And that means fundamentally reimagining what tertiary education looks like.

The AI-Powered Alternative: Learning Without Walls

At MonyaTech, we've been working with educational institutions, private training providers, and industry partners to build a different model—one that leverages AI and mobile technology to deliver quality education at scale, without requiring a single new bricks-and-mortar classroom.

Real Impact: The MonyaTech EdTech Pilot

The Skills Our Economy Actually Needs

There's another dimension to this crisis. Even if every matriculant found a university place, would they emerge with skills the economy actually needs? The reality is that many traditional degrees don't align with labour market demand. Young people graduate into unemployment not because they're uneducated, but because they're educated in areas with no jobs.

Our approach is built on industry-aligned curricula. We work with employers to identify exactly what skills they need—right now, not five years ago—and build learning pathways that deliver those competencies. Students don't just get a certificate. They get employability.

A Call to Action: Build the Future, Not the Walls

The 144,000 students shut out of universities in 2025 are not a problem to be managed. They are a generation to be served. They are young South Africans with dreams, abilities, and the right to build a future.

Technology cannot solve everything. It cannot replace the magic of a great lecturer, the camaraderie of a residence, or the transformative experience of campus life. But for the hundreds of thousands who will never set foot on a campus, it can be the difference between a life of potential and a life of wasted promise.

At MonyaTech, we're committed to building that alternative future. Not because it's profitable—though it can be—but because it's necessary. South Africa cannot afford to lose another class of young people to a system that simply has no room for them.