Universities in Africa 'don't understand what they are'

African universities must resist the blandishments of short-sighted politicians, wealthy donors and the advocates of radical change in higher education if they are to deliver on their core mandate of supporting local and national development, according to Nelson Masanche Nkhoma, who is a researcher at the Institute for Post-School Studies at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. Rather, Nkhoma says, the universities should be proactive, practical and confident in their ability to solve the problems faced by African societies and economies, while also taking a long, hard look at the extent and kind of their current limitations.