Africa’s demographic advantage is arriving faster than its universities are changing.
With about 70 per cent of the continent’s population under the age of 30, Africa has one of the world’s largest pools of young people entering higher education and the labour market. But public health expert Dr John Nkengasong says the continent risks wasting that potential unless universities are redesigned to produce graduates who can solve African problems, not simply complete degrees.
Nkengasong, a former public health adviser who worked with the US administration on HIV/AIDS policy and previously led the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, argues that the challenge goes beyond unemployment.
It is about whether Africa’s universities can become engines of research, innovation and policymaking capable of responding to the continent’s own challenges.
“No modern or ancient country has developed without a strong higher education system driving research, innovation and critical thinking,” Nkengasong said in an interview with the Guardian.
His concern comes as the number of Africans pursuing higher education continues to increase, while questions remain over whether university training is translating into meaningful employment and innovation.
The proportion of people accessing higher education in Africa doubled between 2000 and 2021, reaching nine per cent, according to UNESCO data cited by the Guardian. Yet a 2025 Africa Workforce Readiness Survey found that only about half of employers rated the employability of recent graduates as very good or excellent.
The problem is therefore not simply getting more young people into universities. It is what happens between the lecture hall and the workplace.
A South African Human Sciences Research Council study that followed more than 500 African tertiary graduates over five years found that only 16 per cent transitioned smoothly from education into work and were able to remain employed during the study period.
For Nkengasong, the disconnect reflects an education model that has not kept pace with Africa’s economic and social needs.
He argues that universities should move beyond predominantly theory-based training and equip students with practical skills, entrepreneurial thinking, research capabilities and the ability to influence public policy.
That shift could be particularly important in public health.
Africa continues to face health emergencies that require locally generated evidence, technologies and expertise. Nkengasong argues that the continent should develop stronger research and development hubs capable of producing vaccines, diagnostic tools and other health technologies for African needs.
The issue is not merely technological independence. It is also speed.
During outbreaks, relying heavily on expertise, products and research capacity located outside the continent can create delays between identifying a health threat and deploying an appropriate response.
Nkengasong points to the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo as an example of why Africa needs stronger local research capacity.
He questions why pharmaceutical companies outside Africa should continue to carry much of the investment burden for diseases that disproportionately affect African populations.
His argument places universities at the centre of health security.
A university that trains epidemiologists, for example, would need to produce more than scientists who can understand disease transmission. Graduates would also need the communication, diplomacy and policy skills to persuade governments to invest in prevention and preparedness.
That means rethinking what counts as a successful university graduate.
From degrees to problem-solving
The pressure on African higher education is also linked to the continent’s historical development.
Nkengasong argues that many education systems continue to carry structures inherited from colonial-era models, while decades of limited investment have constrained universities’ ability to conduct research and drive innovation.
He has described this as a failure to sufficiently decolonise education.
The challenge is compounded by competing government priorities, including debt servicing and spending on basic services.
Yet Nkengasong argues that higher education should not be treated simply as another social expenditure.
Instead, governments should regard universities as long-term investments in the human capital required to build infrastructure, industries, public institutions and new technologies.
“There is no country that can construct roads, electrical grids, railways, dams, manufacturing or industrialisation without the human capital that is required,” he said.
That approach would require universities and employers to work more closely together so that curricula respond to changing labour-market needs.
It would also require research agendas to be shaped by problems African societies actually face.
Examples from countries such as Singapore and South Korea show how sustained government commitment to education, research and innovation can contribute to wider economic transformation, according to Nkengasong.
Africa’s circumstances are different, but the underlying question is similar: what happens when higher education is treated as part of a country’s development infrastructure rather than only as a pathway to individual qualifications?
A generation-long investment
The transformation Nkengasong describes cannot happen overnight.
Universities require laboratories, researchers, digital infrastructure, partnerships with industry, stronger links to governments and sustained funding. Students need opportunities to apply what they learn to real-world problems.
The continent also needs pathways that allow graduates to turn research into businesses, public-policy solutions and technologies rather than leaving innovation trapped inside academic institutions.
A new initiative is attempting to address part of that challenge.
The Africa Higher Education for Transformation prize has recognised five universities for efforts to improve innovation, employment pathways and locally relevant research. The programme aims to provide $500 million to 150 universities over the next decade.
Such investment could become increasingly significant as Africa’s youth population grows and more young people seek higher education and work.
But the bigger test will be whether funding produces institutions capable of retaining talent, generating knowledge and solving problems locally.
For Africa’s young population, the stakes extend beyond whether a university degree leads to a job.
They concern whether the continent can build institutions where young scientists can develop vaccines, engineers can design technologies for African infrastructure, public health specialists can shape policy and entrepreneurs can turn research into businesses.
Nkengasong believes such transformation will take a generation.
That timeline may sound long, but the demographic pressure is already here.
Africa is producing more graduates. The question now is whether its universities can evolve quickly enough to turn that growing generation of educated young people into the researchers, innovators, policymakers and entrepreneurs needed to shape the continent’s next chapter.
