POSTED APRIL 18, 2011

Yes … and no.  Africa's population is by far the youngest and fastest growing in the world.  Yet Africa's educated force is only one-fifth the size of that throughout the rest of the world.  In many ways, our global future lies not only in the hands of our African neighbors, but in their heads as well.  Studies report that African higher education students are growing at astronomical rates across the continent.  However, education funding is barely increasing, teachers are few and far between, and institutional management structures are feeble, if present at all.  Africa's struggle to keep up with educational demand is nothing new.  In fact, this has been typical of the content for the last two decades - and trends point to no sign of change any time soon.  The issue is not a matter of adapting to a recent and sudden influx educational interest among Africans.  Rather, it's a matter of adapting to the African cultural and socioeconomic structures where educational interest lies.  Many institutions in the private sector are doing just this, realizing that providing high-quality, sustainable, and affordable education to our young and increasing African neighbors will become our biggest asset to our global community rather than our biggest liability.  African higher education is necessary for the future benefit of the world, but its successful administration will continue to be a tremendous challenge.

You can read more on this subject in last month's blog from The Chronicle of Higher Education.