African Universities: Sites of Resistance and Agents of National Development| Chapter 1 | Language, Literature and Education: Research Updates Vol. 6

 

The public university in Africa was a corollary of, and dialectically related to, the national development project. It was conceived to be a public institution with a public mission in addressing with effectiveness the challenges of the development process. The main objective of this study is to analyse the evolution of the African university as a site for the continued struggle for self-determination. It was argued that, in spite of the history of a few institutions in a handful of countries, the African university in the 21st Century reflects essentially colonial relations. Thus, for instance, the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and distance learning programmes, and the emerging private universities in the context of liberalisation mantra, were also analysed in the framework of the liberalisation policies that have been promoted by the global colonial proxies. In this article, the public mission of the university, be it public or private, was examined. The approach was basically historical, assessing the actors and their transformations and mutations within the same reality of the structural inequality of power in the global system and various African responses through continued resistance and affirmation. The study addressed the fundamental question of the search for a public university or a university with a public mission for the production of relevant knowledge in the various disciplines, critical thinking and new paradigms, and methodologies to promote social progress amidst the challenges of the dominant liberal globalisation and the objective conditions of the African States, societies, and people. The study stated that, based on people’s aspirations for development, dynamic expressions of democracies, and tangible world resources, it is possible to boost higher education. However, based on the realities and the expectations for real chances for a better life, the exercises of critical reflection can only conclude that there will not be generous financial support devoid of interest. By and large, through various mechanisms, private institutions rely on considerable indirect and direct subsidies from the state to function. The public mission of higher education must include private institutions as part of a national agenda. More importantly, African states should feel invigorated in the pursuit of building and maintaining public institutions to respond to demand.

 

Author (s) Details

N’Dri T. Assié-Lumumba
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/lleru/v6/4578