South African Higher education institutions face persistent challenges in engineering student success, with high attrition rates, and extended completion times. This is caused by multifaceted challenges of socio-economic, academic, and institutional factors that continue to shape student retention, progression, and completion. Engineering programmes are mostly affected due to their intensive curriculum demands, high levels of mathematical preparedness, and reliance on specialised infrastructure.  This paper presents a systematic literature review that synthesises existing evidence on barriers to engineering student success and identifies opportunities for targeted interventions. Guided by PICo framework and PRISMA guidelines, a comprehensive search of peer-reviewed literature was conducted across major academic databases. Studies were screened, assessed for eligibility, and thematically synthesised. The findings reveal recurring academic barriers such as mathematical underpreparedness, limited academic support, resource constraints, curriculum misalignment, and socio-economic pressures affecting student engagement and persistence. Reported intervention strategies include enhanced academic support, innovative teaching and learning approaches, and curriculum reform. The review provides an evidence-based foundation to inform institutional practices and policy-level reforms aimed at improving learning outcomes, retention, and overall student success in engineering education.

Keywords

Engineering education, critical barriers, Student success, Retention, South African Higher education.