Abstract
Institutions of high learning constitute key sites of knowledge and occupy a significant and powerful position in society, since education is widely acknowledged as vital to development. Yet universities in Africa continue to be censured for being out of step with the continent and its developmental agendas because many of their curricula are closely modelled on those of the former colonial masters and not the primordial African university that has championed African civilisation in Mali, Timbuktu and Sankore, for instance. This article focuses on the unrelenting conversation on Decolonisation by taking stock of the African university in its current form, the way it has evolved, and its inherent potential. With specific reference to an African university, the article provides a critique of the failure of Africa to change colonial structures which have so far continued to serve as hegemonic devices for colonialism in Africa. This article maintains that the mischance for an African university to disentangle itself from the colonial forms of education is a clear sign that Africa’s struggle from colonialism is far from over. This article further postulates that the African university has continued to be marred by serious failure to respond adequately to challenges confronting the continent (as it was highlighted during the #FeesMustFall campaign in South Africa and similar crusades elsewhere). This happens in spite of the fanfare witnessed at the beginning of the millennium regarding calls for Africanisation and de-Westernisation, which have since died a slow death. The article deliberately refers to an African university in a singular form because the universities in Africa are generally speaking all the same in form, content, and character. Ultimately, the article attempts to move away from the popular rhetorical proclivity by proposing an 8-point plan to reposition our universities in Africa.