Senior academic at the University of Johannesburg Dr Andre van Zyl says universities enroll just over a quarter of youth who complete matric.
Lodges agreed to put up a North West college’s charges, but state funding failed to materialise.
In the wake of the #RhodesMustFall movement, the minister is pushing for "urgent" demographic changes at the country’s universities.
Opposition MPs have taken the basic education minister to task in Parliament after she praised the state of South Africa’s "well-resourced" schools.
The university will not appoint a new vice-chancellor as it seeks to bring stability and continuity to the position.
The University of Zululand (UniZulu), whose administrative campus is located in rural KwaDlangezwa in KZN, is one deeply troubled institution.
The number of teachers graduating is no longer of concern, but their ability leaves much to be desired.
Contradicting stances by government leaders makes the potential revival of teacher colleges even harder to do than it already is.
The department of basic education wants to block the reappointment of public school teachers who have resigned in order to access their pension funds.
The education department is offering pupils the option to learn a Chinese language, but the union wants more emphasis placed on indigenous languages.