Structural barriers to student career preparedness: institutional perspectives from a historically disadvantaged South African University

In South Africa, the persistent issue of graduates being ill-prepared for the job market highlights the deep-seated inequalities within the country's higher education system. Often, employability is attributed to student motivation or individual “skills gaps,” but these explanations overlook the structural mismatches that affect the transition from university to employment. This paper explores how curriculum design, Work-Integrated Learning (WIL), and the digital divide interact to contribute to career unpreparedness among students at a Historically Disadvantaged Institution (HDI) that serves many rural and low-income communities. This study addresses that gap by foregrounding the perspectives of institutional actors, lecturers, WIL coordinators, and academic advisors at a single HDI. Through an interpretivist qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with lecturers, WIL coordinators, and academic advisors, the paper examines how these institutional figures perceive the relationship among academic programmes, labour market demands, and students' real-life circumstances. The findings reveal that curriculum updates often lag behind the fast-evolving job sectors, particularly in Information and Communication Technology (ICT); that WIL systems are fragile due to limited placement opportunities, inconsistent employer engagement, and brief placement periods; and that students from rural and economically disadvantaged backgrounds face compounded challenges, including transport costs, weak professional networks, barriers to digital access, and limited knowledge of recruitment platforms. Additionally, the study highlights that the digital divide extends beyond mere connectivity issues to encompass disparities in access to devices and data, digital confidence, and digitally facilitated career opportunities. Amidst the discourse on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), globalisation, sustainability, and equity in African higher education, this paper calls for a transformation of the curriculum to be more collaborative, data-informed, and attuned to social needs. It proposes strengthening partnerships with advisory boards, co-creating curricula with industry, employing AI tools to align curricula, and coordinating policies among universities, employers, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), and technology developers. The paper concludes that improving graduate employability in South Africa requires more than technical reforms alone; it necessitates addressing the structural inequalities that shape who can transition from higher education to meaningful employment. The paper contributes a structural-misalignment framework, a clear distinction among empirically grounded, analytically derived, and forward-looking implications, and a methodologically transparent account of qualitative analysis in a sensitive institutional setting.