Student perspectives on employability development in higher education in South Africa Oluyomi Susan Pitan and Colette Muller School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, College of Law and Management Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa Abstract Purpose – This study responds to identified challenges of poor work-readiness of many graduates and the inadequate relation between education and work. Through students’ perspectives, the study examines the extent to which selected South African universities are supporting their students in developing employability skills and the influence of such employability support on students’ enhanced employability. Design/methodology/approach – Through purposive sampling, information was obtained from a sample of 402 final year students at two universities in South Africa. After an exploratory factor analysis, 34 of the 35 items on the questionnaire successfully loaded for further analysis under seven components. Findings – South African universities that were analysed are adequately engaging their students with two of the six employability development opportunities (EDOs), while students’ engagement with the other four is only to a fair extent. EDOs are found to jointly influence students’ employability. The curriculum has the highest influence, followed by personal development planning, career development learning and work experience. Real- world activities and extracurricular activities were not found to influence students’ self-perceived employability. Originality/value – Beyond identifying skills that graduates are expected to possess, which dominate the discussion and debate on graduate employability, this study elucidates the role of universities in providing support structures – EDOs – that enable students to establish an appropriate connection between theory and practice. It provides insight into the employability potential of South African universities and increases the universities’ awareness of what they can do to ensure the production of work-ready graduates. Keywords Career development learning, Curriculum, Extracurricular activities, Employability development opportunities, Personal development planning, Real-world activities, Work-experience, University students, South Africa Paper type Research paper Introduction Since the abolition of apartheid in 1994, South Africa’s higher education system has faced persistent challenges that have hampered the ability of the economy to expand and provide increased employment opportunities for its citizens. Employers complain that newly graduated employees lack important soft skills (such as presentation skills) and are not work- ready and that their limited work experience and knowledge of industry suggest limited and inadequate linkages between institutional and workplace learning (NSDS III, 2017; Ohei and Brink, 2019). The South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) (2017) through the National Skills Development Strategy III, 2011–2016 (NSDS III, 2017), has invited responses to these challenges, acknowledging that it is essential for graduates to develop employability skills. Undergraduates’ limited exposure to work experience and other real-world activities has been established as a major cause of unemployment among youths (individuals aged 15–34 Perspectives on employability development The authors wish to acknowledge all the final year students who volunteered as samples for the study and all the postgraduate students who assisted in the collection of data. Special thanks to all the lecturers in the sampled universities who consented to and assisted in the administration of data instrument during their lecture periods. We also thank all the anonymous reviewers for critically reading our manuscript and for their many insightful comments and suggestions. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0040-0912.htm Received 15 February 2018 Revised 13 December 2018 22 May 2019 3 September 2019 31 October 2019 5 January 2020 12 March 2020 8 May 2020 Accepted 11 May 2020 Education þ Training © Emerald Publishing Limited 0040-0912 DOI 10.1108/ET-02-2018-0039