In a world where change is outpacing our readiness for it, the question of how SA can produce genuinely future-ready graduates is more urgent than ever.
This challenge was brought into sharp focus during a recent ‘Education for the Future’ webinar, hosted by Emeris, a newly unified private higher education brand, in partnership with Business Day.
Moderated by broadcaster Clement Manyathela, this digital panel discussion featured Emeris’s MD Louise Wiseman, executive dean of Academics Dr Andre Abrahams, and Career Services manager Francine Mashabela.
Together they unpacked the vision behind the Emeris brand and its ambitions for South African higher education.
A new era for private higher education
Launched in September, Emeris brings together the Independent Institute of Education’s Varsity College, MSA, Vega School and School of Hospitality and Service Management under a single, future-focused identity.
As Wiseman explained, this is more than consolidation — it is a philosophical shift. Rooted in a name that evokes trajectory and earned success, Emeris positions itself as a long-term partner in each student’s academic and professional journey.
“We want to be creating the most employable graduates in the country,” Wiseman said. “Everything we do is about strengthening SA’s economy and contributing to Africa more broadly.”
Bridging the gap between learning and work
Manyathela opened with a sobering statistic: by 2030, nearly 39% of core job skills will have changed, according to the World Economic Forum.
In SA, a country navigating economic uncertainty and rapid technological disruption, the traditional gap between academic learning and workplace needs has become untenably wide.
Emeris aims squarely at closing this gap. Mashabela emphasised that accessible and affordable education must still be uncompromising in quality.
“Making education affordable doesn’t mean lowering standards,” she said. “We prepare students for the real world of work from the classroom onward.”
A significant policy shift for SA
The panel also discussed the government’s recent recognition policy for institutional types, which creates a pathway for private institutions like Emeris to pursue university status.
Wiseman called it a “significant milestone” that brings SA in line with global systems where public and private universities collaborate to drive national development.
“We’re excited and ready,” she said. “We have the faculty range, research output, community engagement, and innovation strategy. This policy allows us to partner even more deeply in shaping SA’s future.”
Designing learning that mirrors the real world
Abrahams argued that meaningful learning requires a deliberately designed ecosystem — one that integrates physical, digital, and human elements.
At Emeris, this includes:
- Interactive campuses that encourage collaboration;
- Academics trained to facilitate learning rather than merely transmit knowledge;
- Active, problem-based, industry-aligned learning across programmes; and
- A strong focus on student wellbeing within an increasingly tech-integrated environment.
“Skills are built through doing,” he said. “Our campuses are training grounds, workshops, laboratories – spaces where students can experiment and grow.”
Wiseman added that today’s university experience must extend far beyond the lecture hall. From a radio and podcast studio to advanced sports facilities and collaborative hubs, Emeris aims to create vibrant, future-fit learning communities.
Its new Sandton and Nelson Mandela Bay campuses, opening in January, both reflect this ethos.
The future starts early
Mashabela reminded participants that preparing future-ready graduates begins in the foundation phase. Early curiosity, experimentation, and problem-solving are essential to later employability.
“Curiosity is a future skill,” she said. “We need children who can ask questions and connect learning to the real world.”
Technology, AI, and the human element
While Emeris embraces new technologies, including AI-based authoring and support tools, Abrahams stressed that technology is adopted only when it enhances learning. “The value lies in the thinking process. That’s what we protect.”
Digital literacy at Emeris is therefore not only technical but ethical: students learn when to trust AI, when to question it, and when human judgement is irreplaceable.
Expanding the postgraduate footprint
Emeris is also broadening its postgraduate offerings, from postgraduate certificates to honours, master’s, and PhDs. A dedicated postgraduate research centre anchors this expansion.
“We’re investing heavily in this space,” Abrahams said. “It’s something we’re truly proud of as our postgraduate qualifications offer candidates a unique opportunity for specialisation.”
Building a future-focused education ecosystem
A recurring theme throughout the webinar was that education for the future cannot operate in isolation.
Mashabela highlighted Emeris’s partnerships with industry, which give students early exposure to real workplace expectations and in-demand skills.
From personalised career coaching to AI-enabled CV and interview tools, employability is treated as a lived experience, built continuously, not promised at graduation.
But employability begins long before tertiary study. Early self-awareness and informed decision-making can transform the often-panicked Grade 10 subject-choice process into intentional planning. Awareness, Mashabela argued, is “the quiet revolution”.
Abrahams’s description of Emeris’s learning spaces reinforced this: environments that blur the lines between classroom, lab, and creative studios. Technology is integrated purposefully, and the curriculum mirrors the environments students will encounter in their professions.
Despite all this innovation, Wiseman offered a grounding reminder: human connection remains at the heart of education. Critical thinking is sharpened through conversation, and growth happens in a community.
For Emeris, the future is not technology versus humanity; it is technology in service of humanity.
The verdict: education for the future, now
Ultimately, the webinar made one thing clear: Emeris is not only anticipating the future of South African education; it is actively building it.
Through industry alignment, intentional learning ecosystems, human-centred teaching, and responsible technology adoption, it is shaping graduates who are employable, adaptable, and future-fit.
Emeris’s new unified brand signals a new chapter, one defined by accessibility, employability, innovation, and purposeful student development.
If these insights show anything, it’s that Emeris is not waiting for the future to arrive. It is creating it – student by student, skill by skill, ecosystem by ecosystem.
Emeris graduates are real-world-ready, from day one.
• About the author: Zipho Dolamo is a freelance business writer who helps individuals and organisations communicate their ideas with purpose and impact.
This article was sponsored by Emeris.
