University and Academics’ Societal Engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Benefits, Drivers and Constraints of Knowledges Production

This book provides a comprehensive account of the patterns of university and academics’ societal engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), considering knowledge production and the resulting outputs, outcomes, and benefits that are yielded from such engagement for society.

Responding to the call for increased visibility of otherwise marginalised voices in SSA’s extant global literature on knowledge production, chapters in the book explore questions around Knowledge-based Economies and forms of knowledge, and suggest an alternative framework to overcome conventional bias and limits present in prominent concepts, such as National Systems of Innovation, Triple Helix, and Mode 2. Further, the authors examine the main drivers, constraints, and barriers to this engagement, and the typology of those with a vested interest in its development.

Ultimately exploring how higher education institutions in SSA engage with, and transfer knowledge to, different external stakeholders, this book will be of value to academics involved with the study of higher education and science, innovation studies, the sociology of education, and education and development more broadly. In addition, politicians, administrators, and practitioners related to higher education, science, and innovation will also find the book of use.

Nelson Casimiro Zavale is Associate Professor at Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo-Mozambique, and a Senior Research Fellow at RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

Christian Schneijderberg works as senior researcher at the International Center for Higher Education Research (INCHER), University of Kassel, Germany.