Abstract:
This paper presents the funding situation of some Sub-Saharan African countries which are witnessing spectacular increase in higher education enrolments in recent years. Although issues of government-private cost-sharing continue to face resistance especially in situations of free higher education cultures in those countries, the trends suggest that the use of economic rationality seems imminent and inescapable for an efficient funding of the systems. Despite the general phenomenon of shrinking public funding in the higher education sector today, the situation in those countries is exacerbated by uncontrollable demands. This could be dominantly attributed to the very high demographic pressures on the higher education sector which paradoxically contradict with the creeping natures of their economies and the multiplicity and diversity of their developmental imperatives which compete for funding from the state. Such economic situations lead to serious capacity imbalance in their higher education sectors and therefore the necessity for more adaptive funding strategies. In the paper, various theoretical and practical arguments are provided on the subject of financial austerity in higher education. The author examines the applicability of various forms of cost-sharing; taking into account the necessity for equitable access, the diverse and stratified socio-cultural and economic structure of the country and the system’s structure.

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Doh, Pascal Samfoga (2008). Towards greater economic and developmental perspectives in the funding of fast-expanding higher education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Cameroon. Presented at Conference on Development, Justice & Governance: New Challenges in the Global South, Finnish Society for Development Research, 24-25 April