YPIA Africa Program: Creating Africa's Future - Higher Education
1. HIGHER EDUCATION
IN SUB SAHARA AFRICA
YPIA Africa Program
Jocelyn McDaniel
Andrew Trembley
21 October 2015
2. History
Pre-Independence
Close ties with universities of colonizing country
Small class of local elites as administrators
Early Post-Independence
Founding of most national public universities
“Africanisation” of education
Pampered sector & source of national pride
Limited private universities
10. Challenges
• Brain Drain of Academics
• Growing Pressure for further Expansion
• Resource Constraints
• Urban vs. Rural
• Tight budgets make disallow universities to afford an effective learning infrastructure. Military
spending, for example, is causing education spending to decrease immensely.
• Mismatch between higher education and the job market outside academia. African universities
have traditionally prepared students for public sector jobs, neglecting the needs of the private
sector
• Contrary to global trends, women remain disadvantaged in terms of access to tertiary education
in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as South and West Asia. The tertiary GER in sub-Saharan Africa for
women is 4.8%, compared to 7.3% for men.
• Large numbers of students complete tertiary education abroad. In 2008, about 223,000 students
from sub-Saharan Africa were enrolled in tertiary education institutions outside of their home
countries.
• The tertiary degrees undertaken do not necessarily align with promising career paths such as
telecommunications, engineering, agriculture, IT, health, banking and education.
11. Discussion Questions
• How can the curriculum be reformed towards entrepreneurial skills
and jobs in the private sector?
• How can a greater emphasis be placed on locally-relevant diploma
and certificate programs, instead of over-producing university
graduates?
• How can gender mainstreaming be improved?
• How can countries increase institutional capacity in higher education
to meet growing enrollment?
• What role do governments play in financing mass tertiary education,
and how can they afford it?
• What can be done to improve gender outcomes in higher education?
16. Institutional Growth Options
+ -
Unregulated Private Meets enrollment demand
Lowest cost
Low Quality
Accredited Private Low Cost Difficult to monitor/regulate
Unproven
Decentralized
Public
Easier to manage institutionally High variability in quality
Unwieldy to monitor/regulate
Universal Public Easier to regulate and manage
Easier to ensure quality
Difficult to Scale Up
Can be expensive
17. Institutional Growth Options
+ -
Unregulated Private Meets enrollment demand
Lowest cost
Low Quality
Accredited Private Low Cost Difficult to monitor/regulate
Unproven
Decentralized
Public
Easier to manage institutionally High variability in quality
Unwieldy to monitor/regulate
Universal Public Easier to regulate and manage
Easier to ensure quality
Difficult to Scale Up
Can be expensive
18. Education by Colonist
France
State-provided
Tightly Regulated
Core Subjects
Assimilation of French Identity
Limited Access
Closely linked to French Universities
Generated Elite Classes
Great Britain
Church, local, or government provided
Unregulated
Variable subjects, including religion/civics
Africanised
Broad access at low levels
Closely linked to British Universities
Created broad basic skills plus elite
19. Deferred Loans
Tanzania: Less than 5% of loans due have been repaid
Namibia: Less than 10% of loans due repaid
Ethiopia: Collections conducted by Revenue Auithority and are high
Botswana: P20 million of P14,000 million due repaid in past 15 years
South Africa: 40% of loan forgiven for good performance: repayment unknown
Burkina Faso: 7,000 of 10,000 loans in arrears
20. Success: Makerere University in Uganda
Government Financing maintained for limited
students
Private Entry Scheme for growth
In 1997: 14,400 public students
In 2004: 34,500 total students
Decreased unit costs by scaling up
Public students depend on consistent public
financing
22. Expansion of Higher Education Enrollment
• Sub-Saharan Africa’s higher education sector has expanded greatly since the
1970s.
• SSA allocates approximately 20% of its current public expenditure on
education to the higher education subsector, which is comparable to the
world average and higher than the corresponding rate of non-African
developing countries (18%).
• There are approximately ten million tertiary education students in SSA
compared to approximately 200,000 in 1970.
• An increase in public investments into tertiary education demonstrate
changing perceptions about the role in role SSA’s development priorities.
• GOVERNMENT PUBLIC EXPEDITURE PER STUDENT : US$2,000 per year
• INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT: US$600 million annually