ABSTRACT
Although recent attention on African higher education has focused on the evolution of the multicampus university system, a good understanding of these developments requires a grasp of the history of the continent’s higher education system.1 An overview of the historical evolution provides lenses through which the reader can assess the developments of these institutions in the context of their sociopolitical and economic environments. Further, it enables the reader to critique the institutions from the perspective of their relevance to society along with their ability to provide a high-quality education. It should also provide an entry point for determining the quality of the governance mechanisms that have evolved as these institutions have developed over time. All these should enrich our appreciation of the theoretical arguments about the development of multicampus university systems on the continent.
