IT degree flaw in South Africa

Not meeting employers’ requirements and standards was the most common reason South African students who graduate with Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-related degrees do not secure jobs.

This is according to a study conducted by University of Johannesburg professors Kenneth Ohei and Roelien Brink, which focused on the employability of South African ICT graduates.

The study surveyed graduates on why they believed they were not selected for specific jobs, while 25 employers were interviewed about employment decisions made in the past.

Ohei and Brink noted that ICT skills are in high demand, with research by Statistics South Africa saying that 1.5 million new digitised jobs were created between 2018 and 2020.

However, the researchers added that 90% of organisations currently experience a shortage of graduates with ICT skills.

It should be noted that several macroeconomic factors play into the ability of graduates to secure jobs.

Of those surveyed, most graduates took six to twelve months to secure a job, while 42% could do so in less than half a year.

Lacking relevant hard and soft skills was highlighted as the predominant reason for graduates not meeting the standards firms interviewed in the study, directly linked to a lack of pertinent working experience before applying.

This was also evident to graduates, as 85% of those surveyed believed they did not secure a job because they did not have relevant work experience.

“Employers expected a graduate to have at least minimal working experience through formal or informal education in conjunction with hard and soft skills,” Ohei and Brink argue.

“This confirms the claims in the literature that for graduates to penetrate the job market, hard and soft skills and several other ICT-related skills are fundamental for employability.”

Employers highlighted problem-solving skills (76%), planning and executing tasks independently (69%), and communication and computer literacy skills (68%) as important for employability.

However, more respondents seemed to believe there was a skills shortage than a lack of relevant working experience, indicating that some employers expected specific skills that are not dependent on experience.

This was another factor that negatively impacted graduates’ chances of securing a job. Roughly 85% of responders believed graduates could not demonstrate the knowledge and skills acquired through university.

Roughly 75% of educators and students believe they are unable to meet the necessary skills of the IT workforce, according to the researchers.

Other factors that impacted employment included skills mismatches, the type of education received, graduates’ job search attitudes, and employers’ perceptions and past experiences.

Ohei and Brink argue that research has shown students’ often negative perspectives of ICT careers as uninteresting and boring to be a contributing factor to the lack of skills.

Considering that 0.65% of matrics who wrote their National Senior Certificate (NSC) finals in 2024 took the Information Technology (IT) exam, there could be a lack of awareness about employment within the ICT sector.

Similarly, the number of computer science graduates is significantly low relative to other major fields of study, such as law and engineering, which does not reflect the demand for skills in the ICT field.

Software development firm Entelect recently told MyBroadband it has experienced a shortage of candidates in the workforce for some time, adding that “there has been a shortage of development talent for as long as we can remember.”

The table below shows the reasons for graduates not securing an ICT-related job from Ohei and Brink’s research paper.