States and Public Policy

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? This book helps us to understand the reasons for this, and reminds us that change is always the result of political compromise. The book looks at the higher education reforms carried out since the 1980s in four East African countries with unique historical and political trajectories: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. Through a rigorous, well-documented analysis, the author 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.

About the Author
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, France). He specialises in higher education in Africa. This book is a translation of États et politiques publiques: Analyse comparée des réformes universitaires en Afrique de l’Est, published in 2023 by Presses universitaires de Bordeaux.