The report is in two parts. The first part is a literature review of massification on higher education with special reference to Africa. It shows that massification is a global phenomenon, resulting from factors such as democratisation of education, the advent of the knowledge economy and globalization. In Africa, massification of higher education has occurred mainly because of improvement at primary and secondary education levels, resulting in a large cohort of graduates seeking access to higher education, and also the realisation now that higher education is crucially important for economic ... Show more
The report is in two parts. The first part is a literature review of massification on higher education with special reference to Africa. It shows that massification is a global phenomenon, resulting from factors such as democratisation of education, the advent of the knowledge economy and globalization. In Africa, massification of higher education has occurred mainly because of improvement at primary and secondary education levels, resulting in a large cohort of graduates seeking access to higher education, and also the realisation now that higher education is crucially important for economic development. Higher education institutions also inevitably experience a rapid increase in student enrolment, this being regarded as 'institutional' massification. Another characteristic of Africa is that massification in the institutions has occurred without an accompanying increase in resources - financial, physical and human - which has had a direct impact on the physical infrastructure, the quality of teaching and learning, research, quality of life of the students, etc.
The second part of the report describes the state of massification in seven selected African universities, namely: The University of Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal; The University of Edouardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique; The University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana; The University of Nairobi, Kenya; The University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya; and The National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Each university was asked to prepare an institutional report in response to a set of guidelines to describe how massification has affected them over the period 1986-2006 and what innovative approaches they have adopted to address the challenge.
An analysis of the institutional reports shows that the seven universities experienced an annual increase in student enrolment in the range 15-25 per cent. Yet, mostly because of lack of funds, this has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in teaching staff. The staff/student ratio in most of the institutions was of the order of 1:30 but with some departments having ratios of up to 1:100. This situation has resulted in an increased teaching load and administrative duties of the staff, affecting their contribution to research. It has also affected the quality of teaching, the large cohorts resulting in overcrowded lecture theatres and, in some cases, abandonment of tutorials and practicals. Library facilities have also been strained and most institutions are unable to provide sufficient numbers of computers for use by the students. But perhaps the greatest negative impact of massification has been on the physical infrastructure of the universities, including the students' residences. Very few additional buildings have been put up and most of the existing ones, inadequate for large numbers of students and not having been maintained, have greatly deteriorated.
Excerpts from publication.
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