Confronting the Burden of the Past: The Historical Antecedents of the Present Predicament of African Universities

Abstract

Modern universities arrived in Africa amidst a fanfare of great optimism in terms of their future (and their role in national development). Today, however, the sad truth is that in many parts of Africa much of that optimism has now been replaced by a deep pessimism.1 One may begin this chapter, then, with two observations regarding the current state of African universities: first, they have come a long way from the time when nearly all of Africa was ruled by Europe; that is, in quantitative terms, enormous progress has been achieved. Yet at the same time, in qualitative terms, universities throughout sub-Saharan Africa are on a steep downward spiral.