A comprehensive single-volume reference on African higher education. Winner of the 2006 African Studies Association Conover-Porter Award

Synopsis--
Since their founding, African colleges and universities have faced numerous challenges. While most are legacies of colonialism, these institutions are affected by particular conditions and realities in their home countries. This book is the first comprehensive survey of all aspects and dimensions of higher education in Africa today. It includes a historical overview of higher educational resources in Africa; descriptions of the size, scope, and nature of higher education in each African nation; and analyses of current and timely topics, such as the state of private higher education in Africa, the financing and economics of higher education, gender issues, distance education, information and communication technologies, and university/state relations. The work concludes with an extensive bibliography of Ph.D. dissertations and other resources on the subject. Relevant for policymakers, development agencies, and university researchers, teachers, and administrators worldwide, African Higher Education is an important and basic reference.

REVIEWS

"African Higher Education, edited by Damtew Teferra and Philip G. Altbach, is remarkable for its breadth and ambition, and is useful as a reference tool for education professionals and experts on Africa. Teferra and Altbach have assembled a diverse collection of essays on higher education in Africa from a variety of international contributors, and have arranged these essays into two parts. The first section of the book features essays on general themes pertaining to higher education in Africa. These are similar to those found in scholarly journals of international comparative higher education. The second section is encyclopedic in character, and features comprehensive educational profiles on all the countries of Africa, ranging from Algeria to Zimbabwe. The third and final part of African Higher Education is a collection of bibliographic resources arranged by country and by theme." --WORLD EDUCATION NEWS AND REVIEWS

"[This] book has amazing coverage and is impressive by any standard. It should generate increased interest in African higher education and, more importantly, encourage research. For a topic that has been so inadequately researched up to this point, the chapters are collectively rich and informative. For American scholars interested in higher education research in Africa, distance and difference represent substantial challenges for conducting quality scholarship. The majority of those who contribute to this book are natives or African scholars, a fact that enhances its authenticity and validity. Overall this book is an ambitious endeavor, and the outcome is better than what could have been expected." --REVIEW OF HIGHER EDUCATION

"This book can't be categorized easily. Is it an encyclopedia or a group of essays? In any case, within it lies a marvelous wealth of information.... The volume is potentially useful for anyone planning to visit or work on education issues in Africa, but it would also serve as an excellent reader for comparative and higher education classes at the graduate and undergraduate level." -- COMPARATIVE EDUCATION REVIEW

"A new reference, African Higher Education: An International Reference Handbook, has recently been published by Indiana University Press. The editors have gathered a monumental amount of information on higher education in Africa, in each case sorted by nation. The pages of the handbook contain numerous charts and tables on enrollments, degree attainment, faculty, student/faculty ratios, fields of study, and university finances. There is also a series of essays that look into issues such as university governance, financing, distance education, language barriers, student activism, and foreign aid."—JOURNAL OF BLACKS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

"This book is a comprehensive survey of all aspects and dimensions of higher education in Africa. It includes a historical overview of higher education, descriptions of the higher education systems in each African country, and analyses of current and timely topics in higher education. Part 1, "Themes," contains 13 essays on trends in African higher education, including discussions of finance, private higher education, student activism, and women in African higher education. Part 2, "Countries," contains 52 discussions of higher education in individual African countries arranged in alphabetical order. Part 3, "Higher Education Resources," contains a "Bibliography in Higher Education in Africa" by Damtew Teferra and Alma Maldonaldo-Maldonaldo (914 items) and "Doctoral Dissertations on Higher Education in Africa: (Damtew Teferra and Alma Maldonado-Maldonado) (301 items)." (SLD--E.R.I.C.)