Understanding the Actuarial Journey: Why are There Less than 2000 Actuaries in South Africa

Given my work done during my time at ASABA it has become clear that the throughput from first year Actuarial Science to final year Actuarial Science results in a larger number of EE candidates either dropping out of university or changing degrees. In order to meet the ASABA objective of ensuring that the Actuarial profession in South Africa is representative of the demographics of South Africa I feel that we need to understand what is causing these candidates to drop out of Actuarial Science. Whilst this is the catalyst for me wanting to write this paper, the results will be of interest to various stakeholders including employers, specifically those who hire graduates, the universities and the Actuarial Society of South Africa. In addition, as transformation is not something that should be the responsibility of just one body or group of people, the profession as a whole should have an interest in the reason transformation is being hindered at the university level.

My paper is intended to be an update and an extension of the paper done by Dave Strugnell and Shivani Ranchod which was presented at the 2016 convention and was titled “Scaling the steepest peak: an analysis of throughput in the UCT Actuarial Science programme” and I will engage with them to understand the analysis that went into their paper.

I would be happy to provide more information as needed