The higher education paradox in African development planning

Abstract

This paper examines the proposition that higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa is over-expanded. The commonly advanced external efficiency reasons for its advocacy are found unconvincing. Important internal inefficiencies, however, have been generated by post-independence patterns of educational expansion. In consequence, a paradox is identified: under some social and economic circumstances, a faster rate of expansion of higher education can exacerbate existing skill shortages in the labour market. This hypothesis is tested using data from Botswana which are compared with similar data for the region as a whole. The analysis demonstrates that, whilst Botswana displays some of the expected symptoms of over-expansion, the paradox does not explain their appearance. Nevertheless the analysis shows that the country is something of an exception in Africa, and a prima facie case is established for the view that this ‘higher education paradox’ now faces planners in a number of countries—in the region— particularly so in the poorer countries with severe adjustment burdens.