The list of the 20 best African universities is known. Published in June 2021 by Quacquarelli Symonds, a British cabinet, the classification Annual list of the world’s top 1000 universities is a reality and highlights the performance of universities in English-speaking Africa. Each year, Quacquarelli Symonds, an international company specializing in the analysis of higher education institutions around the world, publishes a classification for the best performing universities in the world. The said cabinet provides academic services, analysis and information on the higher education sector and is one of the three most reputable university classifications in the world.
No university in French-speaking Africa has earned a place in the Top Performing Universities in Africa. A total of 22 African universities are included in the classification. However, there is a clear domination of South African and Egyptian universities.
Six basic criteria were used to establish the classification, such as academic and employer reputation, student supervision rate, proportion of international teachers and students, and publication citation rate per faculty member.
Why is French-speaking Africa absent?
Obviously, no university from French-speaking Africa is included in the classification. This means that French-speaking Africa is still absent from this list, which is currently one of the most famous in the world in this area. The classification places a strong emphasis on research activities. Thus, there is a lack of funding for research, scientific publications in the best research journals and interest of foreign students and professors in these universities.
Also, it should be noted that the university system in Africa differs from one country to another. Higher education in French-speaking Africa is built on the model of French higher education, which, for example, separates universities from research organizations, which is not conducive to a good positioning in the Quacquarelli Symonds classifications.
Following the independence of French-speaking African countries in 1960, universities in these countries placed less emphasis on basic and applied sciences and on technical and professional training. They focused more on executive education for the public service and the humanities and social sciences in disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, economics, literature, history, geography, etc.
In contrast, in the English-speaking countries of black Africa, there was a very early interest in training scientists and engineers. In these English-speaking African universities, priority was given to research, to scientific publications in the best research journals in the world. This state of affairs contributes to the influence of the researcher but also to the reputation of the university. Hence the positioning of English-speaking African universities such as the University of Cape Town in South Africa in the ranks of the best universities in Africa.
Finally, in the classification of the 1000 best universities in the world by Quacquarelli Symonds, the United States and Great Britain take the first places. This demonstrates the quality of education in the English system. In the classification of the world’s top 1,000 universities, the British cabinet has listed 22 African universities. South African and Egyptian universities, with 9 from each country, dominate the African ranking.
Challenges of a French-speaking Africa as far as higher education is concerned
For French-speaking Africa to become globally competitive and catch up with the rest of the world in terms of development, it will have to invest a good portion of its gross domestic product (GDP) in research, both in the public and private sectors, within a reasonable time frame. It should focus its energy more on technical and professional training, the promotion of scientists and engineers and establish a good governance policy to support universities specialized in applied sciences and polytechnics.
In addition, African universities offer thousands of programs of study in all fields and in all languages. It has several types of universities: public and private universities, polytechnic universities, universities of applied sciences, etc.
