IIE: Weaving Success - Voices of Change in African Higher Education

The chronic under-funding and neglect of African universities has long hampered their ability to serve as cultivators and custodians of bright minds and new knowledge. Over decades of economic hardship and political turbulence, deep dysfunctions crept into university systems, preventing them from equipping people to solve problems, springboard growth and innovation, and contribute meaningfully to the massive outpourings of technological and intellectual innovation that the world has witnessed. Consider, as just one example, that Africa produced about 27,000 scientific papers per year between 1999 and 2008, roughly equivalent to the Netherlands’ output over the same time period.

Nevertheless, this book is not another catalogue of Africa’s woes. Quite the opposite. For in the midst of all the hardships and challenges, a very different kind of African story has emerged, and that story is the focus of this narrative. It is the story of countries, university campuses, and individuals finding creative ways to surmount grave obstacles and use their ingenuity and determination to develop effective means of teaching, research, and service in difficult environments. Ultimately, this is a story about how society wins when universities and the people within them are allowed to flourish. Publication here.