A History of African Higher Education from Antiquity to the Present
Subtitle: A Critical Synthesis
Series: Studies in Higher Education
Publisher: Praeger Publishers
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Westport, CT, USA
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 636
ISBN-13: 9780313320613
Copyright date: 2005
Subjects: African history; Higher & further education; Education / Teaching; Education; Africa; Africa - General; Higher; Education / Higher; Colonial influence; Education, Higher; History
First sentence: It is a truism that any survey of a much neglected subject, in this case a history of the development of higher education in Africa, carries the weight of its importance entirely by itself.
Description: This book surveys the history of higher education—principally universities—in Africa. Its geographical coverage encompasses the entire continent, from Afro-Arab Islamic Africa in the north to the former apartheid South Africa in the south, and the historical time span ranges from the Egyptian civilization to the present. Since little has been written on this topic, particularly its historical component, the work fills an important gap in the literature. The book delineates the broad contours of the history of higher education in Africa in exceptional historical breadth, voluminously documenting its subject in the text, detailed footnotes, and lengthy appendices. Its methodological approach is that of critical historiography in which the location of the African continent in world history, prior to the advent of European colonization, is an important dimension. In addition, the book incorporates a historical survey of foreign assistance to the development of higher education in Africa in the post-independence era, with a substantive focus on the role of the World Bank. It has been written with the following readership in mind: those pursuing courses or doing research in African studies, studies of the African Diaspora, and comparative/international education. It should also be of interest to those concerned with developing policies on African higher education inside and outside Africa, as well as those interested in African Islamic history, the development of higher education in medieval Europe, the contributions of African Americans to African higher education, and such controversial approaches to the reading of African history as Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism.

REVIEWS

"Recent book publication on education in Africa has multiple strands, each reflecting the strengths and limitations of contemporary scholarship.... The comprehensiveness and intellectual reach of two publications incubated in the Boston College Center for International Higher Education stand out in this domain. One is an inclusive reference handbook that provides details, country by country, institution by institution, on higher education across Africa (Teferra & Altbach 2003). The other is effectively an encyclopedia of higher education in Africa (Lulat 2005).  Lulat’s A History of African Higher Education is a massive study, more than six hundred pages including two lengthy appendices and notes that run to several pages, one with its own ten-page case study in smaller type. Burdensome to all but the most dedicated readers, that approach is also a major strength. Quite simply, Lulat carries his descriptions and explanations to whatever length he deems necessary. Understanding universities in North Africa, for example, requires a analytic foray into the history of Islam (informed and insightful) and one hundred and ten notes (a researcher’s dream, though a challenge for readers concerned with the larger issues and cross-national comparisons). Though both issues are addressed in the main text, the two long appendices permit more detailed exploration of the origins of modern African universities and the antecedents of the disjunction between premodern and modern African higher education. Lulat is at his best and incisively clear on the intersections of older and contemporary currents: trends in ecclesiastical and colonial thinking combine with emerging U.S. influence, especially through foundation support to African universities, to shape both the content and process of knowledge creation in East African universities, which in turn influence scholarship and university agendas elsewhere.... Making sense of the World Bank and its education support policies requires attention to human capital theory, which in turn requires reflection on the development of economics as a discipline and its influence in Africa. Understanding the deficiencies of universities in postcolonial Africa requires an analysis of the influence and inadequacies of modernization theory and therefore of general development strategy in Africa. Foreign aid is both a conduit for ideas and a mechanism for rewarding not only governing elites but also intellectuals who do not rock the boat—“the pseudointellectual representatives of the ignorantsia... who regularly feed at the [World] bank’s trough...” (411)." --AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW

“Lulat has compiled a great amount of information on African higher education (interpreted in the broadest sense) across history. The result is an encyclopedic compendium of data that complements for the contemporary period editors Damtew Teferra and Philip Altbach's African Higher Education (2003) and for the colonial period Eric Ashby's Universities: British, Indian, African (CH, Dec'67). The author is sensitive to and knowledgeable about Africa's cultural diversity, and critically engages with the historiography and politics of education in precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial eras. He presents useful summaries of the history of and issues surrounding important African educational institutions, and devotes considerable attention to Islamic (100 pages) and Anglophone (124 pages) regions and the premodern period (66 pages)....[t]here are few other works of such breadth. Recommended. General and undergraduate readers.”–CHOICE

“Lulat's purpose is not to find ways of overcoming what he calls "the current awful predicament" of African universities. Rather, he wishes to correct the errors of other writers, particularly those whom he sees as Eurocentric.”--MINERVA JOURNAL

“In this topically comprehensive and analytically dense work, Lulat....produces an important and timely work of over 600 pages, a work achieving an inclusive and critical perspective on the history of African higher education....[t]his is a well-researched and excellent work in the historical and actual locations of African higher education; it should be widely read and could become a primary reference for researchers, students, and others who are interested in this increasingly important area of study.”--COMPARATIVE EDUCATION REVIEW

“Lulat's work fills an important gap by providing the first comprehensive overview of the subject, beginning with Pharaonic Egypt and Axum in "premodern Africa" and continuing through to the early twenty-first century. Contained within this thick (529 pages of text) and expensive volume is a wealth of valuable information and analysis that will serve as a guide and reference for all future studies....[L]ulat deserves the highest praise for his meticulously researched, comprehensive survey of African higher education over five millennia and across the entire continent.”--AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW

“[O]nly the second full-length, unified, continent-wide historical survey of African higher education. His account differs from the other, Ashby (1996), by a longer temporal and wider geographical scope, by being critical rather than an apology for British colonial policies, and by placing the history of universities in Africa in a global context.”--REFERENCE & RESEARCH BOOK NEWS
Table of contents: title: Preface
pagenum: ix; label: 1
title: Introduction: Setting the Parameters
pagenum: 1; label: 2
title: Premodern Africa
pagenum: 41; label: 3
title: Afro-Arab Islamic Africa
pagenum: 107; label: 4
title: Anglophone Africa—I
pagenum: 207; label: 5
title: Anglophone Africa—II: Ethiopia, Liberia, South Africa
pagenum: 265; label: 6
title: Europhone Africa
pagenum: 331; label: 7
title: Thematic Perspective: The Role of Foreign Aid
pagenum: 379; label: 8
title: Conclusion: The Colonial Legacy and Beyond
pagenum: 429; label: Appendix I
title: An Exploration into the Provenance of the Modern African University
pagenum: 447; label: Appendix II
title: The Historical Antecedents of the Disjuncture Between Premodern and Modern African Higher Education
pagenum: 479; label: Appendix III
title: The European Colonial Empires in Africa on the Eve of Political Independence
pagenum: 535; title: Glossary
pagenum: 541; title: Bibliography
pagenum: 545; title: Index
pagenum: 603; label: DETAILED CONTENTS BY TOPICS; label: 1
title: Introduction: Setting the Parameters/ 1; title: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL PARAMETERS/ 1; title: On European Colonialism and Education/ 7; title: ISSUES OF METHOD/ 17; title: Jargon/ 25; title: STRUCTURE AND SUMMARY/ 27; label: 2
title: Premodern Africa/ 41; title: THE HISTORICAL RECORD/ 42; title: HIGHER EDUCATION IN ANCIENT EGYPT/  43; title: Pharaonic Egypt’s Per-ankh/ 43; title: Hellenistic Egypt’s Bibliotheca Alexandrina/ 47; title: The Destruction of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina/ 51; title: HIGHER EDUCATION IN PREMODERN ETHIOPIA/ 52; title: Islamic Education/ 57; title: HIGHER EDUCATION IN PRECOLONIAL ISLAMIC AFRICA/ 60; title: Al-Zaitouna/ 69; title: Al-Qarawiyyin/ 70; title: The Madrasahs of Timbuktu: Jewels of Islamic West Africa/ 72; title: Al-Azhar: The Jewel of North Africa/ 76; title: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL IMPLICATIONS/ 81; title: On African Historicity/ 81; label: 3
title: Afro-Arab Islamic Africa/ 107; title: INTRODUCTION/ 107; title: EGYPT/ 115; title: al-Azhar/ 138; title: The ulama/ 140; title: The students and their parents/ 140; title: The Khedives/ 141; title: The British/ 142; title: The constitutional monarchs/ 142; title: The constitutional government and the prerevolution secularizing Egyptian elite/ 142; title: The praetorian oligarchic dynasty/ 142; title: ALGERIA/ 145; title: LIBYA/ 149; title: MOROCCO/ 152; title: SUDAN/ 157; title: Gordon Memorial College/ 164; title: TUNISIA/ 167; title: Al-Zaitouna/ 168; title: CONCLUSION/ 171; label: 4
title: Anglophone Africa–I/ 207; title: BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY, 1800S–1920s/ 208; title: Fourah Bay College/ 209; title: Formation of Early Colonial Policy/ 213; title: BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY, 1920s–1945/ 216; title: Higher College at Yaba/ 217; title: Achimota College/ 219; title: Currie Report/ 221; title: BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY, 1945–1960s/ 223; title: The Asquith Colleges/ 227; title: THE ERA OF NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES/ 228; title: Higher Education Reform: The Land-Grant Model/ 230; title: The Problem of Autonomy/ 233; title: Experimenting with Structure/ 234; label: 5
title: Anglophone Africa—II: Ethiopia, Liberia, and South Africa/ 265; title: ETHIOPIA (MODERN PERIOD)/ 265; title: LIBERIA/ 277; title: SOUTH AFRICA/ 283; title: Higher Education for Blacks/ 290; title: The Role of African Americans/ 290; title: Fort Hare/ 295; title: Postapartheid South Africa (PASA)/ 302; title: NAMIBIA/ 305; label: 6
title: Europhone Africa/ 331; title: THE FRANCOPHONE COLONIES OUTSIDE NORTH AFRICA/ 333; title: THE PORTUGUESE COLONIES/ 344; title: The Revolutionary Struggle against Portuguese Colonialism/ 345; title: Angola/ 347; title: Mozambique/ 349; title: THE BELGIAN COLONIES/ 356; title: THE ITALIAN COLONIES/ 359; label: 7
title: Thematic Perspective: The Role of Foreign Aid/ 379; title: UNESCO/ 382; title: THE ASSOCIATION OF AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES/ 384; title: WORLD BANK/ 385; title: The “Basic Needs Approach”/ 387; title: The Bank and the Economic Place of Africa in the Global Arena/ 395; title: The Bank, the State, and Structural Adjustment/ 398; title: Higher Education from the Perspective of Educational Planning/ 399; title: Human Capital Theory/ 400; title: The Pseudo-economics of Economics of Education/ 403; label: 8
title: Conclusion: The Colonial Legacy and Beyond/ 429; title: THE LEGACY OF THE COLONIAL PAST/ 429; title: The Problem of High Unit Costs/ 431; title: The Marginalization of Science and Technology/ 432; title: Colonialism and Language/ 433; title: Universities and Elites/ 436; title: Community Service and the Ivory Tower Syndrome/ 437; title: THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY IN AFRICA/ 439; label: Appendix I
title: An Exploration into the Provenance of the Modern African University/ 447; label: Appendix II
title: The Historical Antecedents of the Disjuncture Between Premodern and Modern African Higher Education/ 479; title: THE COLUMBIAN FACTOR/ 485; title: SUGAR AND PRECIOUS METALS/ 491; title: CONCLUSION: TYING UP LOOSE ENDS/ 499; title: The Ethiopia/Japan Anomaly/ 500; title: Islam, Science and the Industrial Transformation/ 505; title: The Christian Worldview and 1492/ 506; label: Appendix III:
title: European Colonial Empires in Africa on the Eve of Political Independence/ 535; title: BRITAIN/ 535; title: FRANCE/ 536; title: PORTUGAL/ 537; title: BELGIUM/ 537; title: ITALY/ 538; title: SPAIN/ 538; title: Glossary/ 541; title: Bibliography/ 545; title: Index/ 603