The authors show how colonial legacies, resource constraints, and global academic hierarchies still shape who gets to learn, teach, and be heard – yet they highlight growing, African-led efforts to decolonise curricula, strengthen research capacity, and build fairer partnerships. The spirit is hopeful: universities can be engines of inclusion and leadership if we align mindset, money, and methods with Africa’s own priorities.
First, the article traces how colonial histories still influence today’s universities – what gets taught, whose ideas count, and who belongs. Western theories and methods are still privileged, while African knowledge traditions are underrepresented. Student movements (like #RhodesMustFall, #FeesMustFall) have pushed institutions to confront symbols, syllabi, and structures, prompting curricular reforms and more use of African languages and scholarship. Progress is real but uneven; resistance and systemic inertia remain. The takeaway for learners: mindset matters: see African knowledge as foundational, not supplemental.
Second, the authors detail material and structural constraints that limit research and access. Many universities are chronically underfunded; faculty juggle heavy teaching and admin loads with few incentives for sustained research, prompting talent loss and dependence on short-term, donor-driven projects. In the global system, funding priorities, conference locations, visa hurdles, and publishing biases centre the Global North and sideline African voices. Still, green shoots are visible: initiatives foster more equitable collaborations; some associations are lowering financial barriers; and institutions are revising promotion criteria to value research contribution.
Bottom line: Inequality is real, but it is also tractable when mindset and mechanism move in tandem.
The action steps we can take are:
- (1) for Students: join curriculum-change efforts; seek courses and readings led by African scholars; organise peer research circles and open-access sharing.
- (2) for Faculty: redesign modules to centre African scholarship and methods; co-create syllabi with students; adopt fair authorship and data-sharing practices.
- (3) for Departments/Universities: ring-fence time and seed funds for research; reward mentorship and community engagement; support South-South networks; create travel/visa support for conferences. (4) for Research Offices: prioritise Africa-led agendas in grants; require equitable PI roles and budget control for African partners.
- (5) Publishers/Funders (especially in the Global North): expand fee waivers and open-access pathways; broaden reviewer pools; back Africa-defined priorities with unrestricted, multi-year funding.
- (6) All actors: measure success by contribution to SDG 4 (quality education), local relevance, and knowledge plurality – not just citations or rankings. The mindset shift is simple and powerful: treat African universities not as peripheral participants but as leaders in global knowledge – then resource them accordingly.
FULL ARTICLE HERE
