Africa’s Destiny and Higher Education Transformation

Abstract

Africa, the cradle of mankind and civilization, presents the best example of a people falling from the most culturally and technologically advanced society to the most backward and marginalized. While other ancient civilizations like China, Babylon, and India either transformed and survived or persisted in the case of China, the Egyptian civilization was destroyed and was never to recover. The University of Sankore at Timbuktu, established in the 13th century and recognized by many scholars as one of the oldest universities on earth, is testimony to the advancement in scholarship that Africa had attained before any other civilization. But that is all history. Instead, Africa remains the most marginalized continent, viewed by many as a hopeless sleeping giant without any hope for awakening and moving forward as part of a modern global society.