Student Mobility Trends in Africa: A Baseline Analysis of Selected African Countries

Abstract

The movement of African students within the continent or of those from outside seeking opportunities to study in Africa is not new. Nor is the movement of African students to study at overseas higher education institutions, especially during the colonial period and during the era when most African countries lacked university-level institutions. African students studied in the United States as early as the 1870s. Between 1896 and 1931, 22 black South Africans studied in the United States at Lincoln University (Menell-Kinberg 1991). Many of the educated African elite who provided leadership for the nationalist movements throughout Africa received their education at overseas higher education institutions (Lulat 2003).

The data in this Chapter is taken primarily from Chapter 16 (“International Student Mobility In and Out of Africa: Challenges and Opportunities”) of the book titled Higher Education in Africa: The International Dimension, edited by Damtew Teferra and Jane Knight (2008). This Chapter provides a more comprehensive analysis of African student mobility trends and includes the seven countries that were not considered in the previous publication.