The University of Mpumalanga (UMP) is reviewing the appointment of its 38 foreign academics after Parliament questioned whether qualified South Africans were overlooked for lucrative university jobs. University management undertook to return to individual personnel files, explaining that many of its foreign academics had been recruited from other South African universities. UMP has 256 academic employees, comprising 218 South Africans and 38 foreign nationals, meaning foreign academics constitute almost 15% of its academic workforce. Across the university’s total workforce of 706, it employs 40 foreign nationals. Those figures dwarf UMP’s foreign academic proportion and illustrate the premium leading universities place on international intellectual talent.