Course code: MEIC

Lecturer: Josiah Nyamunda, MEd: 861011585/ 855939479

Topic: I. Introduction
Demands and Challenges in university education

Challenges faced by many African students when enrolling in Universities in Africa

African students face a number of challenges when they attend universities in Africa. One
of the biggest challenges is the lack of resources and infrastructure at many universities.
Many African universities lack adequate libraries, computer labs, and other resources that
students need to succeed. In addition, many African students struggle with the cost of
tuition and living expenses. For example, many students must work part-time jobs to cover
the costs of their education, which can be difficult to balance with their studies.

Furthermore, many African students face discrimination and racism on university

campuses. Despite these challenges, African students are resilient and determined to
succeed in their studies.

Access to higher education

Currently access to higher education varies greatly across the continent, from 51 per cent in
Algeria to 4 per cent in Niger. The sub-Saharan African average gross enrolment ratio for
tertiary education increased only marginally between 2013 and 2018, from 8.9 to 9.4 per
cent (Unesco). In addition, there are big variations within countries, and inequality of
access between rich and poor is increasing. On average, the gross enrolment ratio of
students in post-secondary education from high-income households (top quintile) grew by
7.9 per cent between 1998 and 2012, compared to 3.1 per cent in low-income households
(bottom quintile) (World Bank, 2017).
With notable exceptions, modern university education in Africa is a phenomenon
of the last half century.

Universities were established either immediately before or within a decade after

political independence in most African countries. Since then, both the number of
institutions and enrollment have expanded rapidly and continuously across the
continent.

The coverage of university education, nevertheless, remains inadequate for the

needs of the knowledge society.

With the relative decline of state support during the severe economic crisis of the
1980s, Africa's universities suffered substantial deterioration:

1. overcrowding,
2. infrastructure deficiencies, and
3. inadequate access to international knowledge resources.
4. equal access
5. data collection
6. academic freedom
7. relevance
8. equitable relationships
9. benchmarking
10. networks
11. global competition
12. privatisation
13. funding
14. few researchers
15. impact

These deficiencies lead to problems of access, equity, quality, and relevance, and
to an aging faculty. At the same time, higher education systems were complicated
by the diversification of categories of student, types of institutions, and the kinds
of knowledge demanded.
In the resulting situation of institutional complexity and policy dynamism,
Africa's universities were compelled to develop strategies for coping and
innovation.

The result has been a halt in the decline in many instances, and revival and
growth in several others.

Accompanying these positive results, however, have been new forms of social
exclusion as well as a loss of focus on the public purpose of universities as
institutions concentrate mainly on increasing institutional incomes and producing
graduates for the labor market.

Solutions

To address these and other problems, it is necessary to insist on the irreducible

responsibility of the state for the maintenance of the higher education system and
the need for a proper focus on the public purposes of higher education.

Systems-level policy frameworks need to be negotiated and established to guide

the strategic choices that have to be made by all players in the education sector.