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This article is on forecasting and matching skills supplied by education institutions, with the demands of employers using South Africa after the first democratic election of 1994. We do this by examining forecasting and matching; guidance and counseling; subject choice and early specialisation at school and tertiary levels. We argue that forecasting and matching is generally a weak planning strategy because the short-term demands of employers and the time-lag it takes to produce a graduate in a particular field. This strategy is especially limited in a country with first and second tier economies, and where the schooling system still reflects the geopolitical experiences of the past. We further argue that the provision of scares skills is undermined by the political imperatives to increase the pass rate by lowering the pass percentage. It is argued that ill-advised subject choice, early specialisation and guidance and counselling programmes in a watered-down curriculum are not compelling, but likely to undermine the intention of producing students qualified in science, engineering and technology.

This article examines shifts in, and variations of, differentiation, diversification and specialisation and their impact on missions and mandates of different institutional types in South Africa. It explores patterns and how these might encourage institutional 'mission drift', arguing that, in practice, institutions are positioned on a continuum. While legally mandated institutional boundaries are still common, there is increasing support for the blurring of these boundaries because of changing conditions in the new economy. Mission drift could be attributed to the decline in government funding, increasing private contribution and entrepreneurship.