Download or read book Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Higher Education written by Nico Cloete and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2015-03-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dominant global discourse in higher education now focuses on world-class universities inevitably located predominantly in North America, Europe and, increasingly, East Asia. The rest of the world, including Africa, is left to play catch-up. But that discourse should focus rather on the tensions, even contradictions, between excellence and engagement with which all universities must grapple. Here the African experience has much to offer the high-participation and generously resourced systems of the so-called developed world. This book offers a critical review of that experience, and so makes a major contribution to our understanding of higher education.