The education-economy relationship in South Africa, 2001-2005

This introductory chapter provides an overview of many of the important economic and educational issues. The primary conclusion arising from the analysis presented in the chapter is that there was significant misalignment between the needs of a growing economy and the effects if expansion saturation within the South African system of education and training in the period 2000-2005. Underpinning this misalignment has been the dramatic shift in South Africa's overall economic well-being, from an era characterised by economic stagnation in the 1990s to an era in which the rate of economic growth is far outstripping the ability of supply-side institutions to provide the necessary quality and quality of skills. The chapter concludes by addressing the issue of whether this problem of misalignment of educational output with economic need constitutes a skills crisis of major proportions.