Demographics of African Faculty: East African Community
Phase 2
The second phase of the Demographics of African Faculty (DAF) study, funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, builds on insights from Phase 1 (2021–2023) and the earlier pilot in Ghana (2018). Phase 1 revealed major gaps in faculty data across institutions, national bodies, and the region, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated systems.
Phase 2 (2023–2025) addresses these gaps by establishing harmonised, comprehensive data collection across universities, linked through national bodies to the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA). It aims to improve planning, management, and policy-making across the EAC region. The project is led by IUCEA, the Association of African Universities (AAU), Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA), and Population Reference Bureau (PRB).
Background — Phase 1
Phase 1 investigated faculty challenges affecting the quality of higher education across Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. It sought to strengthen evidence-based decision-making to improve faculty recruitment and retention.
Key achievements included:
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Trained 12 IUCEA-appointed researchers from the six EAC countries carrying out data collection and analysis for the project;
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Research teams collected country data from the six target countries;
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Desk-based background research conducted on the existing and potential solutions for addressing faculty challenges in sub-Saharan Africa; and,
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Analysed the impact of COVID-19 on teaching models and the supply and demand of faculty in universities in the East African Community, using survey data collected from the various focus countries.
Publications
Articles
Reports
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Demographics of African Faculty in the East African Community
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Impact of COVID-19 on Tertiary Education in sub-Saharan Africa
Video
Press Release
Partners
Carnegie Corporation of New York is one of America’s oldest grantmaking foundations that seeks to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.
They are supporting us on our Demographics of African Faculty in the East African Community project.
The IUCEA's main objective is to facilitate networking among universities in East Africa and with universities outside the region.
IUCEA works with ESSA on the Demographics of African Faculty initiative.
AAU's mission is to enhance the quality and relevance of higher education in Africa.
AAU formed a partnership with ESSA in 2017, and we have been working together on a range of projects, most notably the "Demographics of Faculty" and the creation of a "Pan African Academic Jobs Board."
The Population Reference Bureau is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit research organisation focused on improving people’s health and well-being through evidence-based policies and practices.
PRB works with the Association of African Universities and ESSA on the Demographics of African Faculty initiative.