By Lebone Rodah Mosima

Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela on Saturday urged university alumni bodies to stop fuelling division and instead help strengthen governance, as the government prepares changes to the post-school education system.

Speaking at Sol Plaatje University in the Northern Cape at the annual general meeting of the Association of University Convocations, Manamela said some convocations, which represent university graduates and alumni, had become associated with conflict and instability within institutions.

“This is not the role convocations were meant to play,” Manamela said.

“Universities require stable and ethical governance environments.”

He said universities should remain focused on knowledge production, research, innovation and learning, and that alumni structures should support rather than undermine that mission.

He told alumni attending the event that their responsibility to their institutions did not end at graduation, describing them as former student leaders who had helped shape campus life and the intellectual culture of their universities.

“Your role now is to carry forward that legacy. To ensure that your institutions remain strong for future generations,” he said.

“To help them adapt to new realities, to become the source of intellect and hope that demonstrates these institutions have produced individuals worthy of representing their legacy.”

Manamela said the debate was especially important as the government re-engineers the post-school education and training system.

He said the DHET was examining the size, shape and future direction of the sector, assessing its potential and putting in place plans to ensure institutions can meet the country’s needs.

“South Africa faces major challenges — unemployment, inequality, technological disruption, and rapid global economic change,” he said.

“Our universities must be capable of responding to these realities. They must produce graduates who can thrive in a changing world.”

He said universities should deepen research into developmental challenges while strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship.

Manamela said his department was working intensively to finalise legislative amendments aimed at keeping the system responsive to changing conditions, improving governance and accountability, and protecting institutional autonomy while maintaining public trust.

“But we must also confront the new realities of the digital age, technological transformation, and shifting global dynamics,” he said.

“Our higher education system must remain stable, responsive, and future-oriented. In this process, the voices of graduates and alumni are critical.”

Graduates and alumni should contribute ideas on governance, funding, innovation and graduate employability, while also participating in mentorship programmes, industry partnerships and community engagement.

Manamela added that graduates had a broader civic duty to help build a democratic society, uphold the values underpinning constitutional democracy, take part in public life and provide intellectual leadership.

“Many of the national debates taking place in our country today require deeper intellectual engagement and rigorous thought,” he said.

“Universities produce graduates capable of contributing to these debates, and convocations must become spaces of intellectual energy.”

He said convocations should also serve as platforms for mentorship, philanthropy, thought leadership and institutional support, and that the sector needed to examine its challenges honestly while remaining committed to improvement.

“That spirit should guide the role of graduates and convocants in our universities and in our society,” he stated.

He said that if convocations embraced that responsibility, they could become one of the higher education system’s greatest strengths by reinforcing universities, supporting students and shaping the intellectual life of South Africa’s democracy.

INSIDE EDUCATION