This was one of the key messages to emerge from the 2026 Siyaphumelela Conference, held in Johannesburg under the theme, "Reimagining Student Success and Expanding Opportunity for All".

Led and coordinated by Saide, the conference says it convened more than 450 delegates from across the post-school education and training ecosystem, including public universities, government, employers, funders, researchers, NGOs and students.

Siyaphumelela, which means "we succeed", is a national student success initiative funded by The Kresge Foundation. The network says it supports institutions to strengthen student access, retention, progression, graduation and work-readiness through data-informed decision making, institutional capacity development, student voice and shared practice.

Siyaphumelela has grown from directly supporting five universities in 2014, to supporting 20 of South Africa's 26 public universities today, collectively serving around 80% of public university students. With an estimated R338-million in support from Kresge over the past 14 years, the network has helped strengthen evidence-informed student success practice across the sector, says Saide.

Having aimed to contribute to improvements in retention, progression and completion, universities and organisations in the network are now working together to explore how student success can extend beyond graduation, adds Saide.

Unpacking the conference theme, Innocent Nkata, Chief Executive Officer of Saide, says "reimagining student success" means responding to the realities young people face before, during and after their studies.

"Since its inception, Siyaphumelela has helped move student success from the margins of institutional priorities to the centre of institutional culture. Meaningful student success starts with access, but does not end at graduation," he says. "It must open the door to opportunity, including employment, entrepreneurship, economic mobility and meaningful participation in society."

That work is being carried by universities across the network. Prof Francois Strydom, Senior Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of the Free State — one of Siyaphumelela's longest-serving participants — notes progress in narrowing the achievement gap between black and white students at the course success level by more than 55%, while cautioning that this progress still needs to be reflected more fully in graduation outcomes, says Saide.

"The better we become at supporting and aligning our own systems, the easier the journey becomes for the student," says Strydom.

This wider definition of student success shaped one of the conference's strongest themes, namely the link between higher education, employability and economic mobility. Research presented by Prof Nicola Branson of UCT's Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) framed social mobility as the product of the three connected factors of access, completion and returns, adds Saide.

She emphasises that enrolment alone cannot drive mobility; students must also complete their studies and enter qualifications and fields of study with real employment and earnings prospects.

"Our analysis shows that access remains important, but access on its own is not enough," says Branson. "If higher education is to drive real social mobility, we need to look at what qualifications students complete, what pathways they take and whether those pathways lead to meaningful employment and earnings opportunities."

The SALDRU research estimated that only about 11% of the 2022 graduate cohort, or about 15 260 graduates, could be considered upwardly mobile. It defines upward mobility as graduating students originating from quintile one to three schools into fields and qualifications linked to strong employment prospects and top-earnings potential, says Saide.

Branson also highlighted that although completion remains critical, much mobility is lost after graduation, with only around one-third of disadvantaged graduates who complete entering qualification and field-of-study pathways associated with top jobs.

Employer perspectives added another layer. While graduates continue to have better employment prospects than those with lower levels of education, StatsSA data showed graduate unemployment at 12.2% in Q1 2026, adds Saide.

SAGEA's 2025 Employer Benchmark — based on responses from 78 leading employers — also pointed to a competitive graduate recruitment environment, with an average of 116 applications per vacancy and only 12% of applicants invited to a first interview, says Saide.

In response to these challenges, Bill Moses, Managing Director of Education at The Kresge Foundation, highlighted Siyaphumelela's systemic approach.

"The challenges facing students are not isolated, so they cannot be solved through isolated interventions," says Moses. "Siyaphumelela's power lies in bringing universities and partners together to learn from evidence, share what works and build lasting change across the higher education system to improve outcomes for students and South Africa as a whole."

The value of that collective work aims to be reflected in the Siyaphumelela Scholars Programme, which recognises students who have benefited from student success interventions and are now helping others succeed. All 2026 Siyaphumelela Scholars attended the conference, alongside more than 60 other students, including student leaders from participating institutions, says Saide.

Among them was Zoe Bok from the University of the Western Cape, a Siyaphumelela Scholar and recipient of the Siyaphumelela ATD DREAM Scholar Award, who returned this year to support the new cohort and contribute to the Scholars' panel discussion, adds Saide.

In a poem delivered at the event, Bok aimed to captured the collective nature of student success with the words, "I praise every hand that lifted me, every voice that called my name in the darkness".

Nkata emphasises that the task ahead is to ensure that more students have access to those supportive "hands" and "voices" through stronger collaboration across the post-school education and training ecosystem.

"We invite universities, employers, funders, policymakers, researchers and civil society partners to continue this conversation with us and to collaborate in ways that shorten and strengthen the bridge from learning to earning, so that more young people can move from access to success and from success to lasting social and economic mobility," concludes Nkata.

For more information, visit www.saide.org.za. You can also follow Saide on LinkedIn.

*Image courtesy of contributor