Research at Higher Education Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Nelson Casimiro Zavale, Associate Professor of Eduardo Mondlane University, This chapter outlines an overview of the development of, and research in/on, higher education in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The chapter's focus is threefold: the historical development of higher education, the state of research in higher education, and the degree to which African higher education institutions are the object of scientific research. The chapter presents two main arguments. First, despite trends of expansion, differentiation, and complexity of higher education institutions in SSA from independence in the early 1970s to the 2020s, these trends have been accompanied neither by a proportional increase in research outputs nor by a functional differentiation. Most institutions have different names and legal classifications. Still, they often perform similar activities: teaching, mostly undergraduate students, with few or no doctoral students, and hence with little to no research activity. Second, although the complexity of higher education systems in SSA demands expertise to understand their specific properties and functioning, research on higher education in SSA is overall weak, with the exception of South Africa and some emerging research communities in West, East, and southern Africa.