The post was created as the minister of higher education and training in May 2009.

It was called the minister of higher education, science and technology between May 2019 and June 2024.

On 10 May 2009, announcing his first cabinet, President Jacob Zuma bifurcated that portfolio, creating the new minister of higher education and training, alongside a minister of basic education.

[2] When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his second-term cabinet on 29 May 2019, he announced that the Ministry of Science and Technology would be absorbed by the higher education portfolio, creating the enlarged portfolio of the new minister of higher education, Science and Technology.

[3][4] However, Ramaphosa reversed the merger in his third cabinet, announced on 30 June 2024;[5] henceforth there was an independent minister of science, technology and innovation, while the higher education portfolio was the provenance of the minister of higher education.