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South Africa
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South Africa
Overview of the education system (EAG 2017)
  • Just over 10% of people in South Africa are expected to complete a bachelor’s level degree in their lifetime, compared to at least 30% on average across G20 and OECD countries. Among those who completed tertiary education in South Africa in 2014, business, administration and law was the most popular field of study.
  • South Africans are attaining higher levels of education than in the past. This is promising in a country where over 50% of people aged 25-34 have not attained upper secondary education, especially if these trends persist.
  • Public expenditure at the tertiary level makes up a smaller share of gross domestic product (GDP) than that seen in OECD countries.
  • Due to the higher employment rates for those with tertiary qualifications, investing more in tertiary education would enable individuals to enhance their chances of employment. Overall, the employment rate for South Africans at all levels of education was 56% in 2015 compared with 75% in OECD countries.
    • | Education at a Glance 2017 | Country Note | Annexes from Education at a Glance 2017 | Education at a Glance 2017: Reader's Guide | Department of Basic Education | Department of Higher Education and Training | Statistics South Africa |
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    The following list displays indicators for which your selected country shows the highest and lowest values among countries. The list can be sorted by level of education or by age group. All rankings are calculated including available data from OECD and partner countries. Find out more about the methodology here.

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    Educational outcomes

    The level of upper secondary attainment among 25-64 year-olds is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (43 %, rank 39/45 , 2016) Download Indicator

    The level of upper secondary attainment among 25-34 year-olds is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (48.7 %, rank 41/45 , 2016) Download Indicator

    The level of upper secondary attainment among 55-64 year-olds is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (28.8 %, rank 39/45 , 2016) Download Indicator

    The level of tertiary attainment among 25-64 year-olds is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (12 %, rank 43/46 , 2016) Download Indicator

    The level of tertiary attainment among 25-34 year-olds is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (10.1 %, rank 46/46 , 2016) Download Indicator

    The level of tertiary attainment among 55-64 year-olds is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (11.9 %, rank 41/46 , 2016) Download Indicator

    Participation in education

    In South Africa, the percentage of today's young people expected to graduate from upper secondary education during their lifetimes is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (33.6 %, rank 37/37 , 2014) Download Indicator

    The enrolment rate among 20-29 year-olds in South Africa is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (4.1 %, rank 37/39 , 2014) Download Indicator

    Classroom environment

    The number of pupils per teacher in pre-primary schools is one of the largest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (29.64 Ratio, rank 2/33 , 2015) Download Indicator

    The number of students per teacher in primary schools is one of the largest among OECD countries and partner countries with available data. (32.77 Ratio, rank 1/42 , 2015) Download Indicator

    Resources for education

    Annual expenditure per pupil at the pre-primary level is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (824 USD Equivalent, rank 31/31 , 2014) Download Indicator


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    General findings
    • In most OECD countries, the most popular tertiary degrees held by adults are in business, administration or law. However, interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) grows with higher levels of education, with almost double the share of students graduating from these fields at doctoral level than at bachelor’s level in 2015.
    • STEM-related fields tend to benefit from higher employment rates on average across OECD countries though inequities persist: natural sciences, mathematics and statistics graduates are more likely to have similar employment rates as arts and humanities graduates – both lower than the rates enjoyed by engineers or ICT specialists.
    • Gender parity is still a distant dream for some fields of study. At the tertiary level, women still represent approximately only one in four entrants to engineering, manufacturing and construction, but three out of four entrants in health and welfare on average across OECD countries.
    | Education policies: Gender | Education at a Glance 2017 (EAG 2017): OECD Indicators | Which careers do students go for? |
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    • On average across OECD countries, expenditure has been increasing at a much higher rate than student enrolments at all levels, particularly tertiary. Total expenditure on tertiary educational institutions increased by more than twice the rate of students over the same period, reflecting the priority given by government and society to higher education.
    • While public expenditure on educational institutions has clearly been rising, it did not keep up with the increase in GDP between 2010 and 2014 on average across OECD countries. This has led to a decrease of 2% in public expenditure on educational institutions as a percentage of GDP over the same period.
    • The share of public funding is significantly higher at lower levels of education than for tertiary education on average across OECD countries. While the public sector still provides 91% of the funds at primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary levels, it only provides for 70% of total expenditure at tertiary level.
    | Education policies: Finance and Funding | Education at a Glance 2017 (EAG 2017): OECD Indicators | Does Money Buy Strong Performance in PISA? | Which Factors Determine the Level of Expenditure on Teaching Staff? |
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    • The teaching profession is getting older, particularly at higher levels of education. On average across OECD countries, 35% of primary to secondary teachers were at least 50 years old in 2015, up 3 percentage points from 2005.
    • The profession is still largely dominated by women, who make up seven out of ten teachers on average across OECD countries. However gender parity improves at higher levels of education – while 97% of teachers at the pre-primary level are women, they make up 43% at the tertiary level.
    • Primary and secondary teachers’ salaries are low compared to other similarly educated full-time workers. While salaries increase with the level of education taught, they still range between 78% and 94% of the salaries of full-time workers with tertiary education on average across OECD countries.
    | Education policies: Teachers | Education at a Glance 2017 (EAG 2017): OECD Indicators | Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers | OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) | International Summit on the Teaching Profession |
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    • In a majority of OECD countries, education now begins for most children well before they are five years old – 78% of three-year-olds are enrolled in early childhood education on average across OECD countries.
    • The proportion of children enrolled in private early childhood education programmes is considerably greater than the private enrolment shares at primary and secondary levels. On average, 55% of children in early childhood educational development programmes and 33% in pre-primary programmes attend private institutions.
    • Public expenditure accounts for 83% of all resources allocated for pre-primary education and 71% of funding for early childhood educational development.
    | Education at a Glance 2017 (EAG 2017): OECD Indicators | Starting Strong 2017: Key OECD Indicators on Early Childhood Education and Care | Starting Strong V: Transitions from Early Childhood Education and Care to Primary Education |
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    • Based on current patterns, it is estimated that on average across OECD countries, 80% of today’s young people will graduate from upper secondary education before the age of 25.
    • General upper secondary education programmes are more popular than vocational programmes: 57% of 15-19 year-old students are enrolled in general programmes, compared to 43% in vocational programmes.
    • Adults with upper secondary as highest attainment level have lower employment advantages and are least likely to recover from economic downturns that those that have attained tertiary education.
    | Education policies: Access and Participation - Secondary | Education at a Glance 2017 (EAG 2017): OECD Indicators |
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    • Based on current patterns of graduation, an average of 49% of today’s young people across OECD countries are expected to graduate from tertiary education at least once in their lifetime.
    • People’s relative earning advantage increases with their level of tertiary education. On average across OECD countries, those with a short-cycle tertiary degree earn only about 22% more than those with upper secondary education, while those with a master’s, doctoral or equivalent degree earn about twice as much.
    • Students become more mobile as they reach higher tertiary education levels. International students account for only 5.6% of total enrolment in tertiary programmes, but over a quarter of enrolments at doctoral level across OECD countries.
    | Education policies: Access and Participation - Tertiary | Education at a Glance 2017 (EAG 2017): OECD Indicators |
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    Key
    Country Reviews for South Africa

    Note: These values should be interpreted with care since they are influenced by countries' specific contexts and trade-offs. In education, there is often no simple most- or least-efficient model. For instance, the share of private expenditure in education must be read against other measures designed to mitigate inequities, such as loans and grants; longer learning time is an opportunity to convey more and better content to students, but may hinder investments in other important areas. If you want further information on the nature of different variables, please take the time to read the analysis and contextual information, available at the website for each publication.
    All rankings for individual variables are compiled on the basis of OECD and G20 countries for which data are available. The OECD average includes only OECD countries which are listed here: http://www.oecd.org/about/membersandpartners/

    *TALIS averages are based on all countries participating in the TALIS survey, including partner countries and economies. This explains the difference between the OECD average and the TALIS average. Data from the TALIS survey and Education at a Glance (EAG) may differ. See Annex E of the TALIS technical report and Annex 3 of EAG 2017 for more details about the data collections.

    For additional notes, please refer to annexes in the list of links below the introductory country profile text.