Sub-Sahara Africa’s Higher Education: Financing, Growth, and Em-ployment

Abstract

Although higher education plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of Sub-Saharan Africa, enrollment in universities in the region is unexpectedly low compared to other regions. However, Sub-Saharan African countries have made strides in increasing access to higher education amidst constraints and challenges. The efforts have led to increases in enrollment and what many countries did not anticipate is the increase in unemployment from the greater output of students. In this study, we use panel data from eleven Sub-Saharan African countries for 2000-2018 to analyze the relationship between higher education and unemployment. A panel fixed effect model was estimated, and the results indicate that unemployment has a negative and significant effect on higher enrollment. Besides, higher education enrollment has a significant but negative effect on employment. Per capita income significantly affects enrollment into higher education and has the expected sign. The estimates further show that government expenditures on higher education play a significant role in the demand for places in higher education.

Access, equity and redress: Towards a sustainable funding framework for public universities in South Africa

“…It is apparent that despite the renewed focus by governments on financial support for higher education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa (including South Africa), sustainable funding has remained a challenge (Amin & Ntembe, 2021). In Western countries such as the USA, third-stream income (that is income from economic activities of a university) appear to be a far more dominant funding source, thereby alleviating pressure on government funding.…”

Determinants of the Penalty Waive by the Defaulters: The Case of Higher Education Loan Board (HESLB) in Tanzania

“…Given that Africa remains one of the poorest regions while at the same time posing a large youth population that aspires to join tertiary institutions, financing higher education continues to be the greatest challenge. However, Amin and Ntembe [8] have argued that despite the fact that there are few and limited sources, these sources are identified as i) government or public financing; ii) parents and their substitutes or family and households; iii) students themselves; iv) individual and institutional donors, and v) income-generating activities of the academic institutions. The combination of these sources tends to generate a limited amount in Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries [9].…”

“…The combination of these sources tends to generate a limited amount in Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries [9]. The total cost of higher education is considerably higher than the available sources of financing, especially the public revenues that are the primary source of higher education financing [8].…”

“…The mechanism to coordinate these aspects, has been put in place to assist the financially needy students to access higher education. This mechanism is the Higher Education Students' Loans Board (HESLB) [8]. The board was established under the act of parliament No.…”

“…The board serves those pursuing advanced diplomas and or degree studies at accredited higher learning institutions in and outside the country. The board in addition has the responsibility to collect repayment for all loans issued to students since 1994, so as to make the scheme successful [8].…”