Sustainable internationalisation of African higher education: African strategies, global lessons and epistemic justice

Introduction African higher education is increasingly being shaped by globalisation, digital transformation and sustainability demands. While internationalisation can expand access, research capacity, quality assurance and global partnership, it may additionally reinforce inequality, cultural homogenisation and epistemic dependency when poorly governed. This study therefore reframes internationalisation as a sustainable governance process grounded in African priorities and informed by global experience. Methods The study employs an integrative policy and practice review supported by qualitative document analysis and comparative thematic synthesis. Sources were purposively selected for their relevance to the research questions, and these included African and international higher education scholarship, policy models and institutional initiatives, primarily published between 2004 and 2026, with earlier works retained where conceptually necessary. Deductive and inductive coding was used to identify recurring patterns, tensions and adaptation risks, followed by comparative synthesis across African and selected international settings. Results The synthesis generated five interrelated dimensions for sustainable internationalisation in African higher education, which are digital inclusion and innovation, reciprocal partnerships, quality assurance and cross-border standards, human capital development, and cultural sovereignty with epistemic justice. Their integration reflects recurring themes relating to access, institutional authority, capacity development, quality and epistemic recognition. The framework translates these dimensions into institutional mechanisms and measurable indicators for implementation and monitoring. Discussion The study argues that sustainable internationalisation in African universities should engage with global higher education as active knowledge producers, while adapting lessons from Europe, Asia and the Americas to African institutional realities and development priorities. The study contributes a framework that positions internationalisation as an integrated governance process through which digital access, partnership, quality, institutional capacity and epistemic authority can be addressed collectively. The framework provides a foundation for future empirical application and comparative assessment across diverse African higher education settings.