The teaching of public administration in Africa

Abstract

Diverse public administration teaching traditions exist across African countries, yet some common strands can be identified. These teaching traditions were initially profoundly influenced by the colonial heritage across Africa especially in the first two decades after independence. Post-independence priorities linked to development and nation-building were also dominant post-independence themes in public administration teaching. More recently, globalisation has played a vital role in shaping public administration teaching as African universities have endeavoured to adopt more innovative global pedagogies as students particularly at the postgraduate level have become more demanding and quality conscious based on emerging global standards. An important distinction still exists between the teaching of public administration in private and public universities in Africa. Private universities in Africa have generally been faster in adopting more innovative methods of teaching public administration such as case methodology than public universities, although considerable variability still exists. The teaching of public administration in African states has also been greatly affected by distinct political and social realities in African states. Remaining authoritarian states in Africa have generally allowed less innovation in teaching public administration as it has been important for them to support the official line on key political issues compared to democratically oriented African states where teaching has been more innovative.