States and Public Policy: A Comparative Analysis of University Reforms in East Africa

A comparative political analysis by Olivier Provini of higher education reforms in four East African countries: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Burundi. Why did students start paying tuition fees at African universities? How did public universities become increasingly expensive for the large numbers of young people they are supposed to be educating? The book helps us understand the reasons for this and reminds us that change is always the result of political compromise. It looks at the higher education reforms carried out since the 1980s across four countries with unique historical and political trajectories. Through rigorous, well-documented analysis, Provini provides valuable insights into the fundamental political issues facing development actors in the South: the transformation of state intervention, the training of national elites, and the marketing of the education sector, particularly through the highly political issue of school fees. Olivier Provini is a lecturer in political science at the University of Reunion Island and a research associate at Les Afriques dans le monde (Bordeaux). This book is a translation of États et politiques publiques, published in 2023 by Presses universitaires de Bordeaux.