Brexit: some implications for African higher education

ABSTRACT

This article considers how the decisions of the UK government, following the Brexit referendum, may impact on higher education in Africa. Ghana and South Africa are the two countries chosen to exemplify the claim that academic staff in African higher education will lose opportunities to acquire experience in British universities. Academic mobility between Africa and the UK is expected to fall significantly following Brexit.

KEYWORDS:

• Brexit
• higher education
• academic mobility
• research collaboration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Patrício V. Langa is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Post-School Studies (IPSS), University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa and at the Faculty of Education of the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) in Mozambique. He coordinates two PhD programmes: The IPSS Doctoral Programme in Higher Education Studies (DPHES) and a dual/joint Doctoral programme in Comparative Higher Education Policy & Innovation Studies (CHEPIS) between the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, the IPSS/UWC and UEM. Prof Langa served as the National Director for External Evaluation in the National Council for Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Mozambique (CNAQ). He was also a member of the National Council on Higher Education (CNES) in Mozambique. Prof Langa sits on various journal editorial boards including the International Journal of Sociology and has published extensively on higher education.

Dr. Patrick Swanzy is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Post School Studies, located within the Faculty of Education, University of Western Cape. He holds a Bachelor of Education (Social Science) and Master of Education (Administration) from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Patrick earned his PhD in Education from the University of Adelaide, Australia, specialising in quality assurance in higher education. He also has a certificate in Disability Studies from Barkuma Incorporation, Adelaide in Australia. Patrick has been working in the field of education in Ghana since 1993. He has taught at every level from primary to tertiary level and has also been involved in education administration. Prior to his doctoral studies, Patrick was the Head of Practical Training at the Bolgatanga Polytechnic, Ghana.

Professor David Law, formerly PVC (pro vice-chancellor) (Students and External), retired from full-time employment at Edge Hill University in 2012 and then was Director of the Edge Hill Confucius Institute for two years. He has been Principal Editor of Perspectives since 2012. Currently, Dr Law is an Honorary Professor at Keele University and the Managing Director of a Consultancy: IETC Ltd.