The South African higher education system includes
23 public higher education institutions:
- 11 universities
- 6 comprehensive universities
- 6 universities of technology
As of 18 February 2011, there were also
87 registered and 27 provisionally registered private higher education institutions.
*
In 2009
**:
- the public higher education institutions employed 43 446 academic staff and 117 797 staff in total
- the public higher education institutions enrolled:
- 837 779 students in total
- 684 419 undergraduate students
- 128 747 postgraduate students
- the public higher education institutions awarded:
- 144 852 qualifications at all levels
- 33 788 qualifications in business and commerce
- 39 984 qualifications in science and technology
- 71 036 qualifications in the human and social sciences
- the public higher education institutions produced:
- 8 112 master's degrees
- 1 380 doctoral degrees
*These figures for the private higher education institutions were obtained from the "Register of Private Higher Education Institutions" produced by the Department of Higher Education and Training on 18 February 2011.
**This information is collected from higher education institutions during and at the end of each academic year. Once it has been collected, it is verified and audited and discrepancies are resolved. For this reason, the audited figures for 2010 will only become available in the second half of 2011.
