The Development and Reassessment of Tropical Architecture in West Africa

Fry and Drew’s involvement with West Africa did not cease with their school work in Ghana. They continued to work throughout the region on numerous projects that were commissioned in the wake of the Report of the Commission on the Higher Education in the Colonies, (referred to as the Asquith Report) ¹ published by the Colonial Office. The report recognised the growing demand for university education in the colonies but haughtily noted that ‘education should be adapted to the environment and mentality of the people’. ² There had been various attempts at forming educational establishments in West Africa, but by 1945 there were only four institutions of higher education that had the status of ‘university’ in the entire Empire ³ – i.e. recognised as such by British universities. ⁴ The British government sought to fulfil what it described as its ‘moral obligations as trustees of the welfare of Colonial peoples’ by implementing a ‘programme of social and economic development’, which included educational facilities. According to Asquith, the outcome of these enterprises would ‘lead to the exercise of self-government’ by the Colonies. ⁵ Universities were seen as being an important part of nation building, a civilising prerequisite to self-governance. The report noted, ‘in the stage preparatory to self-government universities have an important part to play; indeed they are indispensable’. ⁶ As a result a number of new colleges were proposed for the West Indies, West Africa, East Africa and the Sudan, and Malaya, which would eventually become self-awarding universities once deemed to have reached the required standard. ⁷