Higher Education in Africa. Crises, Reforms and Transformation
Publication Year: 2007
Published by: African Books Collective
Cover
Author Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
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pp. 5-6
Introduction
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pp. 7-17
According to its mission statement, and as stipulated in its objectives, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) aims to foster and to promote research and the production and dissemination of knowledge in a social space that guarantees freedom of thought throughout Africa. It seeks to ‘strengthen the institutional basis of knowledge production in Africa by...
Chapter One - Origins and Mission of African Universities
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pp. 18-47
This first chapter sets the historical stage of the emergence and trajectories of African higher education systems and institutions. It presents the types of higher education in Africa today. It is argued that while the contemporary institutions have originated from a colonial or neo-colonial framework, the idea and reality of higher education were not alien to the African context before colonisation...
Chapter Two - Cultural Colonisation by Force and by Choice
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pp. 48-58
This chapter addresses the question of the reproduction of European cultural domination of African societies and institutions, both in the colonial and neocolonial contexts. It is argued that by force the colonial powers reshaped African education. In spite of their criticism of colonial education, African leaders who were influenced by this education displayed a mindset that viewed European...
Chapter Three - Tre Crisis, Its Consequences, and the Call for Change
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pp. 59-92
This chapter discusses the general economic crisis and the educational crisis with a particular significance for higher education, especially the universities in Africa. It is argued that the loss and absence of the economic power of African states and their reliance on loans from the international financial institutions to fund their national programmes led to further loss of sovereignty. They de facto...
Chapter Four - Waves of Reforms and Recent Innovations
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pp. 93-113
In part because of the lack of higher education commensurate to the needs articulated by Africans during the colonial era, in post-colonial Africa the emphasis was on increasing supply at all levels, especially higher education. However, early on there was a quest for change, in addition to the simple increase in enrolment. Reforms and innovations have been the major forms of change that...
Chapter Five - New Challenges within the Global and Local Objective Conditions
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pp. 114-128
This chapter focuses on the new challenges of global scale and unprecedented magnitude that the African continent has been facing in the post-colonial era and which constitute additional hindrances to education, while at the same time a relevant education with a solid higher education system is needed. The globalisation phenomenon and the burden of the debt cycle, the destruction...
Chapter SIx - Structural Change, Transformation, and Localisation of Higher Education as a Public Good
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pp. 129-154
This sixth and final chapter points to areas of reflection and action for the transformation of higher education in African societies. It is argued that African higher education must be re-conceptualised as a public good. Such an articulation can be effective and meaningful only if it is accomplished on the ground of domestication of the institutions and their ownership by the people and the state while...
Conclusion
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pp. 155-157
It is worth recalling that by the time African countries started to acquire their political independence, human capital theory was popular and guided education policies under the eye of experts from industrial countries. Given the euphoria about the assumed economic value of education, questions concerning which type of education and what development did not guide policy decisions. Several...
Bibliography
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pp. 158-204
Back Cover
E-ISBN-13: 9782869784048
Print-ISBN-13: 9782869781863
Page Count: 204
Publication Year: 2007
