Universities struggle as military rulers fight other threats

During the past few years, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have been caught up in political turmoil. From coups to Islamist insurgencies, these West African Sahel countries have been facing ongoing insecurity that has also opened them up to power struggles involving global foreign powers that want to wield influence in the region.

What has been the state of higher education in these countries following the first coup in 2020?

Niger

In Niger, the military government is insisting it has maintained higher education services, despite international sanctions imposed on the West African country since the July 2023 coup d’état.

This has ruptured relations with Western and some neighbouring countries, prompting concerns that Nigerien students might struggle to continue their studies abroad.

However, according to the secretary general or lead official of the ministry of higher education, research and technological innovation, Professor Moussa Hamidou Talibi, Nigerien students have been able to access courses overseas, particularly in European countries: “We have noted no major difficulty for students who apply for these countries,” he told University World News.

While military and development cooperation with the European Union and the United States has been limited since the coup and trading and financial sanctions were initially launched by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – but then lifted in February – Talibi claimed: “No public university has stopped its work for a single moment and no strike by administrative and technical staff or students has been recorded during the 2023-24 academic year.”

His remarks were confirmed by Dr Siddo Adamou, the secretary general of the National Union of Higher Education Teachers and Researchers for the public André-Salifou University in Zinder: “Last year was a stable year overall,” he told University World News, despite the sanctions, with Adamou backing the government line that “the people have shown limitless resilience”.

He said 95% of courses in the 2023-24 academic year were completed “in almost all public universities in Niger”. The Nigerien Students’ Union at the University of Niamey also confirmed that the higher education year had proceeded relatively smoothly in the past academic year.

Scholarships and salaries

Talibi said that student funding has been increased by the junta, headed by President General Abdourahamane Tchiani, with public university scholarships funding rising from the West African Communauté Financière Africaine Franc, or CFA franc, CFA400 million (US$655,900) per week to CFA600 million (almost US$1 million) per week “to allow these institutions to carry out their work”.

Malam Wolli Abatcha Ari, the deputy secretary general of the University of Niamey’s Union of Nigerien Students branch, said: “Efforts have been made by the government to pay the scholarship arrears. For the year 2023-24, the new baccalaureate holders have been paid,” although some arrears remain for older scholarships.

Meanwhile, the “other concern remains insufficient infrastructure” in Nigerien higher education, he told University World News.

But Adamou is not preparing to make demands on the military government, telling University World News that lecturers and researchers were being mobilised to “fight for national sovereignty” and in support of “sustainable development of our homeland”.

He claimed: “The time is, therefore, not for complaints but, first and foremost, for work.”

An Amnesty International report issued in July, however, claimed there had been “arbitrary detentions” of members of the deposed democratic government and harassment plus arrests of journalists writing articles critical of the regime.

Burkina Faso

In nearby Burkina Faso, also under military rule and facing a violent Islamist insurgency, the government has been struggling to preserve higher education services as it fights militants who target civilians.

Human Rights Watch, or HRW, and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), a non-profit organisation, have warned that about 15,500 people have been killed in Burkina Faso since the military coup in September 2022, and about 6,000 since January 2024.

ACLED reported that Islamist armed groups killed 1,004 civilians in 259 attacks between January and August, up from 1,185 civilians in 413 attacks year-on-year.

The military government of President Captain Ibrahim Traoré has been trying to maintain some higher education normality against this backdrop of violence, trying to promote the values of patriotism and entrepreneurship among students.

On 15 October, Prime Minister Dr Apollinaire Joachimson Kyélèm de Tambèla chaired the opening ceremony of a training course focused on these values at Thomas Sankara University, in Ouagadougou, the capital.

“The values of civic-mindedness, patriotism and courage are, among others, values very dear to [former] president Thomas Sankara [a Burkinabe national hero – and another military leader] and it is, therefore, an excellent idea to instil these values in students who are trained in the university that bears his name,” said Professor Pam Zahonogo, the university president.

“Furthermore, in the current context where we assert our total sovereignty by advocating endogenous development, entrepreneurship is a credible alternative to civil service,” he said.

Meanwhile, the government has launched a research support scheme, releasing calls for expressions of interest during August 2024 for its ‘one student, one computer’ programme, helping students in private and public higher education institutions to use information technology.

One focus of such subsidies is the Université Virtuelle du Burkina Faso, or the Virtual University of Burkina Faso (UVBF), which gives students and teachers flexibility over residence.

Dr Émile Ouédraogo, the director of techno-pedagogy and digital resources for students, stressed how 85% of student computer purchase costs is subsidised, with each learner entitled to 10GB per month to follow courses, adding: “There is tutoring. The course is online, but there are tutors who will support the students throughout their learning. If they have any questions, they can address them to the tutors who will answer through forums and video conferences.”

Here, Russia may play a role, following its posting of about 200 troops in the country.

Adjima Thiombiano, the Burkinabe minister of higher education, research and innovation, met in Ouagadougou with a delegation of the Moscow-based Synergy University of Russia in April 2024. The Russian university intends to share its experience in digital sciences with Burkina Faso, said a meeting note.

Mali

Meanwhile, students in Mali are pressing the country’s military government to revive the Association des Elèves et Etudiants du Mali, or the Association of Students and Pupils of Mali (AEEM), which was dissolved in March 2024.

At the time, Mali’s Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation ordered the closure, saying the AEEM was responsible for “violence and clashes in schools and universities”.

Dr Modibo Soumaré, president of a Circle of Reflection and Solidarity of Alumni and Sympathisers of the Association of Students and Pupils of Mali (CRS-AEEM) has attacked the closure of AEEM, telling University World News that it deprives learners of a way to pressure public authorities for change: “The abolition of the AEEM will have an impact on students because they are in an educational world that is not without problems.”

He asked: “Who should collect information on students’ problems? Who should gather the students’ requests? Who should gather the students’ demands? An association. And this association was the AEEM. Students now have no reference point to report their concerns. This can cause enormous problems within the institutions.”

He was speaking as the country faces rising safety issues. On 17 September, the Al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, attacked a gendarmerie training school and other strategic areas in the capital, Bamako.

While French high schools were closed on that day and the day after, public universities continued operating, the ministry of higher education and scientific research told University World News.

Indeed, Mali universities are still in operation, despite the ongoing military regime and insurgent activity. For Malian students wishing to study overseas, only a small number of openings remain available, according to the General Directorate of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Mali.

It has received offers for the 2024-25 academic year, including 40 higher education scholarships from Russia, whose government has been supporting the ruling Mali junta, which has poor relations with democratic developed countries.

A directorate note mentioned that “a few scholarships” were available for Arabic-speaking students from the University of Al-Azhar El-Sherif, in Egypt, 110 scholarships from Tunisia, 150 from Morocco and 150 from Algeria.

Scholarships in France, whose formerly close relations with Mali have been strained since the military takeover in August 2020, remain restricted.

Nonetheless, a Cooperation and Cultural Action Service (le Service de coopération et d’action Culturelle, or SCAC), at the French Embassy in the capital, Bamako, has offered scholarships (and has not set a maximum number) for masters courses “primarily for students enrolled in one of the 15 Malian public higher education institutions”, with students travelling to France for courses.

It has also launched a call for applications for scholarships in language courses reserved “for teachers of French or in French in an accredited private educational institution in Bamako”, again with no numeric cap, with students learning in France and Mali – at the Institut Français campus in Bamako.

At the Institut Français campus, despite this progress, when University World News visited in August, the atmosphere was gloomy. A manager who requested anonymity said the number of applications is not as high as in previous years, despite an April 2024 lifting of a suspension of visas for students by the French government.

There have been other areas of progress in Mali’s higher education, however. Under an ongoing policy of expanding university education in the regions of Mali away from the capital, military President Colonel Assimi Goïta launched construction work at the University of Sikasso in south-east Mali in June 2024.

Also, plans to build a future University of Kayes, in western Mali, have moved forward, with a report on the plan submitted to Professor Bouréma Kansaye, the minister of higher education and scientific research.

Despite Mali’s political upheavals, higher education spending has been expanding, according to an official in the ministry of higher education and scientific research, rising from CFA75.5 billion in 2022 (about US$128.5 million) to CFA89.1 billion (about US$151.6 million) in 2023.

The official told University World News: “The budget allocated to the MESRS [ministère de l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche scientifique] sub-sector has gradually increased each year” since 2021, despite fluctuations in the national government budget: “This trend could reflect a government strategy aimed at strengthening the country’s intellectual and technological capacities, potentially in response to development challenges or a recognition of the importance of innovation and higher education for long-term economic growth,” he told University World News.

That said, some Mali universities have seen funding cuts. An official of the L’université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako, or USTTB (University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako) said its operating credit has decreased significantly: “This has a big impact on activities,” he said.

Also, the payment of financial allowances allocated to students has been delayed: “My daughter passed her baccalaureate in 2022. She received her ‘trousseau’ allowance [helping students prepare for the start of the school year], but not yet her scholarship,” one parent of a higher education student in Bamako told University World News.

Chiaka Doumbia reports from Mali and Labarou Baba from Niger and Burkina Faso.