Like the rest of the world, private higher education institutions are sprouting across the whole continent of Africa. Several factors have contributed to this growth, notwithstanding serious challenges that impinge on private growth. Examining and addressing these challenges is key to recognizing and benefitting from the sector.

The emergence and proliferation of the private higher education (PHE) sector in Africa have introduced multiple patterns in its structure, growth trajectory, and quality. African PHE has a history that spans both long-standing traditions and more recent developments. The oldest private higher education institutions (PHEIs) in the continent were religious institutions, primarily of Christian or Islamic origin. These institutions provided educational opportunities long before the introduction of modern secular education in the continent.

Gradually, religious institutions expanded their educational offerings beyond religious subjects, addressing the needs of individuals working outside the church. After independence in the 1960s, Africa’s higher education system was heavily influenced by the “public-good” model, where public universities were seen as national symbols and drivers of national development and modernization. This led to limited interest in the promotion of private higher education providers.

However, this trend started to shift in the 1970s and 1980s. Several factors contributed to the change, including massive enrollment at school level, limited capacity and accessibility of the public higher education sector, frequent strikes and instabilities in public universities, reduced public spending in higher education, and the rise of neoliberal ideology, alongside pressures from external organizations like the World Bank.

Typology

The share of overall PHE enrollment in Africa currently stands at 18 percent, significantly lower than the global average of 33 percent. This suggests that higher education in Africa has largely remained a public enterprise.

Indeed, private enrollment is declining in countries like Egypt and Ghana, driven by challenges such as negative perceptions, high tuition fees, a decline in international students, especially from neighboring countries, and issues with quality, inflation, and increasing competition from the public sector.

A variety of PHEIs operate across the continent. One prominent category is religious institutions. These hold significant influence in countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. While they often operate as nonprofit entities, this distinction is becoming increasingly blurred as the cost of education at these institutions can be on par with or even exceed that of for-profit private universities.

Elite private universities also exist in Africa, albeit on a limited scale. Examples include semi-elite universities in Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa that offer high-quality programs, employ high-caliber faculty, amass substantial resources, and emphasize student-centered pedagogies and continuous assessment.

The most common and “demand-absorbing” institutions include for-profit PHEIs owned by individual proprietors, family businesses, corporate organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and foreign entities collaborating with local institutions. Family-owned private universities are a relatively recent but growing phenomenon in many parts of Africa.

Most private institutions focus on programs in social sciences, humanities, and arts, with a strong preference for business, management, education, and theology, as opposed to STEM, vocational, and agricultural subjects. While some countries permit PHEIs to offer a full range of programs, others, such as Egypt, Ethiopia, and Ghana, restrict private universities to offering only bachelor and master programs.

In some countries, private institutions are also differentiated based on their designation. In Kenya, PHEIs can use the title “university,” while in South Africa, they are designated as “university colleges” due to their limited research activities. Consistent with international trends, private institutions in Africa are seldom engaged in research and produce limited research output.

Public Policy Toward PHE

Legal provisions for the establishment and operation of PHEIs vary across the continent. In some countries, such as Ethiopia, a single authority is primarily responsible for accreditation and external quality assurance, while in other countries, like Egypt, these responsibilities are shared among multiple bodies in a coordinated manner.

In Ethiopia, the accreditation process is strictly enforced on PHEIs, while the dominant public sector is not held to the same standards, creating double standards within the system. Ghana has a unique requirement for newly established private institutions: they must affiliate with a chartered public institution before being granted their own presidential charter.

Most PHEIs across the continent rarely receive government funding or subsidies. In many cases, tuition fees and internally generated revenue are the major sources of income for private universities. In countries like Ethiopia and South Africa, students enrolled in private institutions are not eligible for government financial support. However, there are exceptions, for example in Kenya, where government loan schemes made available for students in the public sector are extended to those in private institutions.

Challenges

PHEIs have been a valuable addition to the African higher education landscape by providing alternative pathways and contributing to the continent’s developmental goals. They play a crucial role in broadening access, choices, and opportunities for students and graduates, offering diverse study options that align with their future aspirations.

However, PHE is not just about expanding access. It also provides conducive learning environments and program diversification, fosters competition within the higher education sector, and generates employment and income. PHEIs are sometimes preferred over public institutions due to their unique features, such as enhanced monitoring of student progress, immunity from the frequent strikes that disrupt public institutions, and improved opportunities for interaction between students and staff.

While public institutions are known for being rigid and bureaucratic, successful PHEIs are often dynamic, efficient, and flexible. Due to their need to achieve social and economic success, they minimize wastage, promote strategic positioning, focus on employment-oriented training and job-placement services, and ensure greater internal accountability. The presence of a vibrant private sector can encourage intersectoral competition and cooperation, leading to a more efficient and responsive public system.

Nevertheless, African PHEIs remain limited in scope, size, and growth due to several bottlenecks. These include the absence of comprehensive national policies, limited funding, exclusion from government support, negative perceptions, low enrollment rates, and difficulties in attracting physical and human resources. Internal management issues, such as weak governance and management structures and role conflicts among individual owners, often hinder the effective delivery of high-quality teaching and learning.

PHEIs are also affected by restrictive regulations, constantly changing requirements, uncertain procedures, delays in accreditation, double standards in the accreditation of private and public universities, and limited capacity to enforce rules and regulations. These issues are common across the African PHE scene and pose significant obstacles to its development.

Future Pathways

Addressing the future of PHEIs in Africa requires tackling the various challenges and concerns raised by governments and relevant stakeholders. It is crucial for PHEIs to foster positive perceptions and build confidence in the sector. This can be achieved by emphasizing the value of the diverse and competitive programs they offer, rather than relying solely on the quasi-market attitudes and practices with which they are often associated.

Creating a robust knowledge base about the current state of the African PHE landscape is also of utmost importance. A deeper understanding of this sector is necessary to inform better policy making, planning, and decision-making. The sector must evolve into a field of inquiry where its future direction is guided by knowledge and improved understanding, rather than personal preferences, whims, or purely commercial intentions.

Wondwosen Tamrat is associate professor of higher education and founding president of St. Mary’s University, Ethiopia. He coordinates the private higher education subcluster in Africa under the auspices of African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa, CESA, 2016-2025. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected].

Damtew Teferra is professor of higher education and founding director of the International Network for Higher Education in Africa at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Republic of South Africa. He is one of the coordinators of the Higher Education Cluster of the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa with the Association of African Universities. E-mail: [email protected].