African universities challenged to embrace public purpose

In a stirring address this week, Professor Funmi Olonisakin, the vice-president of International, Engagement and Service at King’s College London (KCL), urged African academics and universities to move beyond “tinkering at the fringes” of societal change and fully embrace a model of “knowledge with purpose.”

She challenged African institutions to break free from traditional academic models and prioritise research and education intentionally directed towards addressing the continent’s most pressing challenges.

Pivotal moment for African academia

Delivering the second annual distinguished public lecture of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) online, Olonisakin, a Professor of Security, Leadership and Development at KCL’s African Leadership Centre, spoke to a select audience of more than 100 attendees from across the continent and the rest of the world, including several vice-chancellors and other senior university leaders.

She was introduced by Professor Ernest Aryeetey. The event marked the final public engagement of the founding secretary-general of ARUA, who retired at the end of July.

The lecture came at a crucial juncture for the organisation. Since its establishment in 2015, ARUA has championed collaborative research and academic excellence across Africa.

Olonisakin applauded ARUA’s strides in advancing African scholarship, yet underscored the urgency to maintain this momentum and accelerate progress. She paid tribute to Aryeetey’s leadership, lauding him as both “a visionary and a doer” who leaves behind the “bold legacy of an African research champion”.

Dismantling the Ivory Tower

Olonisakin challenged the notion of the university as an isolated “ivory tower” or “shiny house on the hill”. She argued that such detachment is detrimental, particularly in the African context, and called for a radical reimagining of the university’s role.

Instead, she envisioned African universities as the “heartbeat of society”, actively engaging with and tackling societal challenges head-on. Ignoring these challenges, she cautioned, would only “bring society’s problems to our doorstep in due course”.

Redefining the social contract

Olonisakin dissected the social contract between universities and society, drawing a stark contrast between the pact universities have with governments and politicians, which she argued is often broken due to distrust or neglect, and the pact with society itself.

This latter implicit agreement, she emphasised, is paramount and should be upheld and nurtured, as universities are inherently embedded within society and derive their legitimacy and purpose from serving the public good.

“At the best of times, politicians are not always in step with their people,” she remarked, emphasising the need for universities to prioritise the needs and aspirations of the communities they serve because there is “a human condition that the university cannot run away from.”

She explained: “The social contract to the societies that support us is that we will make them stronger, more successful, including having the courage to challenge the structural inequities that serve to reinforce existing challenges today.”

Urgency for action

Olonisakin underscored the urgency of the African context, highlighting the stark demographic contrast between the continent’s youthful population, where around 70% of people are under the age of 35, and Europe, where this demographic constitutes a mere 32%.

This reality, coupled with rapid technological advancements, necessitates a distinct approach to higher education tailored to African needs.

“The options before us are really stark,” she warned, “especially now in the 21st century with the kinds of challenges and transnational problems that we face.”

To remain relevant, she contended, “there’s a need to deal with the plight of people in society now, not tomorrow or when we have the time or resources to do so more comfortably.”

This is further compounded by the vast disparity in higher education participation rates between Africa (around 10%) and the European Union (over 43%). Olonisakin questioned the sustainability of this inequity, challenging the audience to consider the consequences of a vast majority of African citizens being excluded from post-secondary education.

Continental qualification framework

She also questioned the continued relevance of nationally bound curricula.

“Can we keep rigid curricula within borders,” she asked, “without a Pan-African qualification framework to enable free movement of students and academics, physically and virtually?”

She urged universities and consortia like ARUA to spearhead this effort, stating, “we don’t have to ask governments’ permission, we should do the collective work ourselves, and then push the gates open for that conversation.”

Collaboration as a catalyst for change

Throughout her lecture, Olonisakin explored the theme, “Collaboration in higher education as service to society.” This collaboration, she argued, should extend beyond inter-institutional partnerships and permeate the very core of knowledge production.

She envisioned a situation where universities actively engage with society, co-creating research agendas and educational programmes that directly respond to the pressing needs and aspirations of the communities they both spring from and serve.

This collaborative ethos, Olonisakin argued, is equally vital for international partnerships. She pointed out that many of the challenges facing both Africa and Europe, such as climate change and migration, are transnational in nature and require collaborative solutions that transcend borders and disciplines.

However, she cautioned against replicating power imbalances that could hinder progress, advocating for truly equitable collaborations that respect and amplify African voices and expertise.

Olonisakin highlighted, with appreciation, ARUA’s strategic partnership with The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, noting the evolution of their collaboration since the publication of their joint concept note, “Confronting our common challenges: A new Approach to Strengthening Africa’s Research, Innovation and Higher Education Capacity”, in 2020.

Last year, the two organisations established 20 joint Clusters of Research Excellence, bringing together over 250 researchers from more than 100 institutions across Africa and Europe.

And just last week, ARUA’s executive committee approved 16 collaborative PhD programmes that will begin in January 2026, several of which include partners from member universities of The Guild.

The new initiative is funded by the Mastercard Foundation. ARUA expects that it will result in its universities graduating 1,000 PhD holders annually in seven cohorts over a ten-year period.

Defeating internal colonialism

In a particularly thought-provoking segment of her lecture, Olonisakin railed against “internal colonialism”, arguing that “the decolonisation project remains incomplete in African academies.”

She issued a strong call to African academics to embark on a journey of self-reflection and critical analysis. This she did with reference to Ugandan academic and human rights activist Sylvia Tamale’s notion of the “potent kernel of internalised colonialism”.

At the same time, she expressed a growing weariness with the ongoing discourse surrounding the colonisation of African education: “I think we are having a tired conversation by continuously focusing on the colonisation of Africa’s education, when actually, we’re not thinking about the internal colonial mindset, because it is we who need to free ourselves from this straightjacketed way of looking at education.”

This, she asserted, necessitates “a transformation of the models of higher education and a rethinking of the structures handed down from colonial systems to make the knowledge we produce have meaning in society, and to achieve the transformation that African societies need in order to ensure agency for African people, and to make Africa universities and their societies equal players in an evolving global arrangement”.

Knowledge with purpose

Central to Olonisakin’s vision for African universities was the concept of “knowledge with purpose”. Drawing inspiration from her KCL colleague Jonathan Grant’s book “The New Power University”, she contrasted the traditional “old power” model of universities – closed, inaccessible, and leader-driven – with a new model based on connection, collaboration and shared purpose.

She challenged universities to move beyond the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake and instead prioritise research that is co-created with society, directly addressing the needs and aspirations of the communities they serve.

Acknowledging the expectations placed on universities by society, Olonisakin emphasised the need for academic freedom and a creative space where scholars can generate solutions.

Call to action

Olonisakin, an alumna of not only KCL but also the University of Ife, Nigeria (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and the University of Pretoria in South Africa, concluded her lecture with a rousing call to action, urging African universities to seize the opportunity to lead the way in societal transformation.

She encouraged institutions to embrace collaboration, break down barriers within and between them, and forge a new path towards “knowledge with purpose” that will empower African citizens and shape a brighter future for the continent.

“The structural barriers are huge,” she acknowledged, “that is why we need to work together to really open the floodgates to what is possible in terms of change.”