Expanding higher education in the Global South: A case study in the Angolan central highlands

Quality higher education of all types can greatly improve the lives of the people in the community served, but access to this education is not universal and is particularly limited in some areas of the Global South. The purpose of this study is to examine the goals, opportunities, and challenges surrounding ongoing attempts to establish a new tertiary institution in the rural central highlands of Angola, an area with no access to higher education. The case here is a specific institution, UniDondi, and the team of people who are working to fulfill a long-held dream of opening and operating a university at the Dondi Mission Station. Qualitative data was gathered primarily from the development committee, a group of approximately twenty leaders of IECA, a large Protestant denomination in Angola. This study examines their goals for the project along with their experience and perceptions of the opportunities and challenges they face opening this specific institution in this place. The study will situate UniDondi in both a global and local context by addressing the following broad questions as they apply to the case: How does the link between globalization and massification of higher education play out in the Global South? What aspects of globalization most directly affect the development of higher education and how do institutions respond? What impact do local forces have? And finally, in the current context, what are the challenges and possibilities for higher education in the Global South? Quite simply, this study tells a story—a story that needs to be told to further our understanding of higher education in Angola specifically, and perhaps serve as an instructive example for countries that share characteristics with Angola, more generally.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Solberg, Janine Susan Schleter

Contributors dc:contributor

• Witt, Mary A
• Pak, Yoon K
• Kang, Hyun-Sook
• Lindgren, Samantha A

• Angola
• Higher Education
• Globalization
• Global South
• Dondi
• Ieca

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Janine Susan Schleter Solberg

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124182

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124182