Choosing between a public university and a private higher education institution is one of the most significant decisions a prospective student will ever make — and one of the most complex. While hundreds of thousands of students have already secured their places for the 2026 academic year, many others are still weighing their options as the year approaches.
For these students — and for senior high school learners who will face the same decision in the months and years ahead — the advice from education experts is clear: look beyond the brochure.
“For some, choosing a higher education institution is about taking the first independent step,” says Nadia Landman, Head of Academic Quality Management Systems at ADvTECH’s Independent Institute of Education. “For others, it’s about returning to study after years in the workplace, fitting lectures around meetings, assignments around family life, and ambition around reality.”
While open days offer reassurance and polished brochures showcase impressive campuses, Landman cautions that they only tell part of the story. What matters most is understanding what day-to-day academic life will look like once the semester is underway.
When Reality Hits — and Support Really Matters
The true test of an institution doesn’t arrive in the first week of lectures. It comes weeks later, when deadlines overlap, confidence dips, work responsibilities intensify and personal commitments refuse to pause for assignments.
“Every institution talks about student support,” Landman says. “But what matters is whether that support is visible and accessible when students begin to struggle — not only when they’ve already failed.”
For parents, this may mean asking how first-year students who fall behind are identified and supported early. For adult learners, the questions are equally practical:
Who do I contact when work deadlines clash with assessments?
How accessible are lecturers outside of office hours?
Are lectures recorded and made available if I miss a session?
Institutions that truly understand the realities of student life — across different ages and stages — can explain clearly how they support learners before pressure becomes a crisis.
Who Is Actually Doing the Teaching?
Behind every qualification is a lecturer, or a team of lecturers, responsible for turning curriculum into meaningful learning. While qualifications and experience are important, Landman says engagement, responsiveness and awareness of students’ realities matter just as much.
“Adult learners bring professional experience, practical questions and limited time,” she explains. “Parents want reassurance that lecturers are not only knowledgeable, but attentive and accountable. Strong institutions support their lecturers to teach well, and they take student feedback seriously.”
Teaching quality is not accidental — it is supported, monitored and continuously improved in institutions committed to academic excellence.
Working With Real-World Realities
The idea that a qualification alone guarantees a career has long faded. Parents worry about employability. Adult learners worry about relevance. Both are asking the same fundamental question: Will this programme prepare me for a changing world?
“Curricula should not be static documents,” says Landman. “They should evolve with industry, technology and society.”
Institutions committed to quality regularly review their programmes, involve industry voices, offer work-integrated learning opportunities and assess students in ways that reflect real-world complexity — not just academic theory.
“The aim is capability, not just completion,” Landman adds.
Why Quality and Governance Matter
Terms like accreditation, assessment moderation and academic integrity may sound bureaucratic, but they quietly safeguard the value of a qualification — and the effort required to earn it.
“Quality systems aren’t about red tape,” Landman says. “They exist to ensure fairness, credibility and consistency, whether you’re studying full-time straight out of school or part-time while working.”
Institutions that take quality seriously are transparent about how these systems function and why they matter. One of the clearest indicators of this commitment is service quality.
How quickly are emails answered?
Are queries handled with empathy or deflection?
Is communication clear, honest and respectful of people’s time?
Over time, these everyday interactions reveal whether an institution is designed around rigid systems — or around students with real lives.
A Decision That Deserves Care
“Higher education is not a transaction,” Landman says. “It’s a commitment — of time, energy and belief in a better future.”
Parents may not walk the academic journey for their children. Adult learners may not have the luxury of starting over if things go wrong. In both cases, the choice of institution matters deeply.
“The strongest institutions are not defined by the loudest claims,” Landman concludes. “They are defined by their willingness to answer difficult questions openly, thoughtfully and without hesitation. And it is in asking those questions early, calmly and with intention that both parents and adult learners move beyond the brochure — and towards a decision that truly supports success.”
Policy Context: Greater Clarity for Prospective Students
Recent developments in national higher education policy are helping to bring greater clarity for prospective South African students. The Department of Higher Education and Training’s policy on the recognition of institutional types is designed to ensure that different kinds of higher education institutions are clearly defined, appropriately regulated, and transparent about what they are established to offer.
For students and families navigating an increasingly complex higher education landscape, this clarity will support more informed decision-making — helping them choose institutions aligned with their academic goals, life circumstances and preferred mode of study, rather than relying on assumptions or labels. Policy implementation can proceed once regulations are published.
