Sharing Higher Education's Promise beyond the Few in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

There is a significant body of research that measures inequality in educational attainment across all levels of education. Research in this regard, with a specific focus on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), is even more difficult to come by . This book intends to fill some of the knowledge gap with regard to access and equity in tertiary education in SSA by collecting, generating, and analyzing empirical evidence on these indicators and, on the basis of this analysis, highlighting key policy entry points for addressing equity. The book is structured in the following manner: Chapter 2 discusses the supply and demand of tertiary education in SSA, demonstrating that growth in the demand for tertiary education has far outpaced increased supply. Chapter 3 analyzes key patterns of equity in tertiary education. Chapter 4 focuses on understanding why inequities persist in tertiary education and what factors contribute to the erosion or exacerbation of inequity in tertiary education in SSA. Chapter 5 demonstrates that tertiary education yields substantial benefits. Chapter 6 discusses key policy interventions that governments have adopted for the purposes of targeting specific populations to increase access to tertiary education. Chapter 7 presents country case studies to demonstrate how different tertiary education policies influence outcomes and patterns of equity or inequity.