This report seeks to analyse the staffing needs of various universities that are members of the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA). The purpose is to ascertain the extent of the problem in these institutions, examine their ability to develop the next generation of academics as a means of forestalling the decline and proffer some suggestions about what can be done to regenerate the African professoriate.

The study shows that over the last decade student enrolment in African universities has grown by significant amounts in response to the increasing demand for higher education. However, this has not been met by an adequate expansion in academic staff. Highlighting issues such as postgraduate enrolment, gender parity, human resources and work life balance, against the backdrop of inadequate data, the report calls for urgent acction to address these staff shortages, to improve higher education in Africa.