Government and governance reforms in higher education in Africa

Higher education was considered a ‘public good’ worthy of public support in Africa, during the first decades of independence, and most countries adopted a state-funded and heavily subsidized model for university expansion. With the fiscal crisis of the 1980s, public funding declined and universities fell into a state of disrepair, leading to a deterioration of physical facilities, a decline in student enrollment and teaching standards and a depletion of research capacities. Reforms to revive the sector became necessary and unavoidable. Most reforms redefined the role of the state in higher education development and in the governance and management of institutions. The institutional governance moved from a ‘state-control’ to a ‘state-supervision’ model, leading to increased institutional autonomy, on the one hand, and reliance on market tools of incentives and accountability mechanisms to steer institutions toward policy goals on the other. Some of these reforms helped expand the system, revitalize the sector, and improve institutional governance.

Excerpt from publication. Show less