The politics of social demand for free higher education and labour market

​Responsibilities and roles of higher education institutions in relation to societies and labour market have been understood differently in different contexts and different historical epochs. This topic is reminiscences about the triple helix of higher education in different contexts.  My paper explores competing and contradictory perspectives on responsibilities higher education (HE) to expectations of societies and the labour markets in contexts in which they exist using South Africa as a case.  I argue that the challenges on this topic include, the burgeoning social demand for HE and ‘free’ mass HE as a public good, and shrinking jobs in the market.