Degrees alone do not solve global crises; people do. South African universities face growing pressure to produce graduates who are not only employable, but also adaptable, innovative, and socially responsible. However, higher education policies often continue to measure graduate success narrowly, focusing almost exclusively on academic qualifications and immediate labour market placement.

Building on this need for change, a groundbreaking doctoral policy brief from the University of the Free State (UFS) challenges the status quo, demonstrating that the true measure of a graduate lies in their capacity to drive responsible societal change.

Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies, remarked: “This policy brief powerfully aligns with our commitment to postgraduate studies that cultivate agency, leadership, and problem-solving – not just employability, but capability for change. Social entrepreneurship demonstrates how research, learning, and innovation intersect to translate knowledge into lived impact; precisely the kind of scholarship that the UFS seeks to advance.”

Developing capabilities, not just credentials

Dr Crespen Ndlovu’s policy brief, Reimagining Graduate Success: How social entrepreneurship can strengthen graduate development in South African higher education, offers a practical pathway forward. His research explores how social entrepreneurship – the application of entrepreneurial action to address social, economic, or environmental problems – bridges the gap between classroom theory and real-world impact.

Reflecting on his findings, Dr Ndlovu notes, "A central contribution of the brief is that it moves the graduate success discussion beyond academic and labour market outcomes. Instead, it broadly demonstrates how student engagement in (social) entrepreneurship initiatives can cultivate broader graduate capabilities such as agency, leadership, problem-solving, collaboration, resilience, and social responsibility, thereby contributing to human development in society."

Using Enactus as a case study across two public universities in the Free State, the research reveals that students involved in these initiatives experience significant personal and professional growth, including increased confidence, digital skills, and greater community engagement.

The ecosystem of success

However, these outcomes do not occur by chance; they require an enabling environment. To address this need, Dr Ndlovu developed the Social Entrepreneurship Capability Framework (SECF).

The SECF demonstrates that experiential learning directly contributes to graduate development when universities offer appropriate support, including mentorship, seed funding, peer networks, and inclusive access. This framework challenges universities to reconsider how they define a successful graduate, encouraging a shift away from relying solely on completion rates towards valuing a student's capacity for innovation and community impact.

“The SECF speaks directly to our strategy: enabling environments, mentorship, and inclusive access are essential infrastructure for innovation-led graduate development,” Prof Reddy observed.

A framework for future impact

Dr Ndlovu’s research contributes significantly to the broader conversation around higher education policy and student development.

Prof Reddy agrees, “Doctoral research of this calibre exemplifies how postgraduate scholarship can meaningfully shape policy, practice, and institutional transformation. By embedding social entrepreneurship into curricula and research, the UFS advances innovation with purpose – preparing graduates to co-create responsible societal futures.” 

Dr Ndlovu’s supervisor, Prof Melanie Walker, adds: "Dr Ndlovu’s rigorous and original research breaks new ground in situating social and student entrepreneurship as a matter of well-being and flourishing in and through entrepreneurial activities. The implications for how we think about doing and embedding social entrepreneurship in graduate attributes and across undergraduate curricula and teaching are exciting and significant."

Ultimately, the brief clarifies that social entrepreneurship must be more than just an add-on. Embedding it within higher education cultivates graduates who are employable, purposeful, and capable of generating solutions for sustainable human development. The central policy challenge is to make these opportunities structured, inclusive, and measurable. By addressing this challenge, universities ensure that their graduates do not merely enter the world but actively transform it.