Entrepreneurship development in South Africa: redefining the role of tertiary institutions in a reconfigured higher education system

South Africa's capacity to absorb new recruits into the formal labour market has fallen from approximately 62% to less than 4% in three decades, compelling school leavers, graduates and the unemployed to look towards self employment for survival and sustenance. This article explores the role of tertiary institutions, particularly Technikons, in meeting the challenge of self employment as the option to unemployment. The institutional constraints within the current legislative framework are explored, and suggestions made for appropriate policy changes. The necessary attitudinal shifts required to facilitate a wider implementation of entrepreneurship support structures are also examined. South African Journal of Higher Education Vol.15(1) 2001: 32-39