This article was originally published in the University World News Africa Edition.
Africa’s future is inextricably linked to the potential of its youth, with nearly 60% of the continent’s population under the age of 25. Yet, as we strive to meet the ambitions of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the global Sustainable Development Goals, a critical gap persists between this demographic reality and the governance of the systems meant to prepare them.
For Africa to truly transform, young people must transition from being key stakeholders to being core architects of their own education.
While many universities across the continent have made strides in student representation at decision-making tables, the journey from participation to meaningful influence remains unfinished. Students are still often expected to adapt to systems they did not help design and to prepare for futures they had little role in imagining.
Too often, student engagement is confined to consultation on predefined agendas rather than partnership in shaping the fundamental priorities of curriculum design, institutional governance and long-term policy, reflecting the structural barriers to youth participation identified by AK Bangura in his 2016 contribution titled, ‘Youth participation and development in Africa: An analysis of structural barriers’. This limits the relevance, agility and transformative power of higher education.
The urgency of moving from inclusion to empowerment was the central theme of a high-level dialogue convened by the Association of African Universities (AAU) and Afrobarometer (AB) earlier this year titled, ‘The power of youth in co-creating education: An African imperative’.
The dialogue highlighted a shared recognition: to build education systems that produce graduates with the practical skills, innovative spirit and civic agency needed for the 21st century, we must deepen and institutionalise youth co-creation.
Recent Afrobarometer survey findings highlight just how central education has become to public concern. Across 38 African countries surveyed in 2024-25, education ranks as the third-most important problem that governments should address, rising sharply from sixth place just three years earlier. It sits alongside concerns about the cost of living, infrastructure and water supply, trailing only health and unemployment.
In his opening remarks, AB’s chief operating officer, Felix Biga, stressed that credible data must guide education reform and that young Africans must be recognised as partners in shaping solutions, not passive beneficiaries.
He noted that Africa’s youthful population presents an extraordinary opportunity, but only if education systems evolve fast enough and inclusively enough to meet young people’s aspirations.
This need for a deeper shift was reinforced in the keynote address by Professor Olusola Oyewole, the secretary general of the AAU.
He stressed that Africa cannot realise its development ambitions if universities continue to design systems for young people rather than with them. Reiterating his long-standing position that Africa’s youth must be regarded as “architects, not recipients” in the transformation of higher education, he warned that institutions that sideline young people in governance risk losing relevance in a rapidly evolving continent.
The task ahead is not to discard current efforts, but to strengthen them with intentionality and structure. The next phase of progress requires embedding youth voices with formal authority in governance bodies, establishing robust frameworks for co-designing curricula, and channelling support to student-led innovation. By doing so, universities can unlock a powerful engine for relevance and renewal.
For Africa to thrive, its institutions of higher learning must not only educate youth, but be shaped by them. This is the essential partnership for our continent’s transformation.
Participation without power cannot deliver reform
The vocabulary of youth engagement now features prominently in development strategies, university plans and development partner programmes.
Yet, visibility has not translated into influence. During the webinar, Divine Edem Kwadzodeh of the All-Africa Students Union observed that young people are often invited into decision-making spaces only after institutional priorities have already been set.
Problems are defined, solutions proposed and budgets drafted before youth enter the room. Their insights may be acknowledged, but they seldom shape the direction of reform.
This reflects a broader continental pattern in which symbolic participation often passes for participation. Young people may be present, but they rarely have the authority to shape agendas.
For universities committed to co-creation, confronting this imbalance is essential. Co-creation goes beyond consultation and requires a redistribution of authority.
It requires giving young people substantive roles in governance, involving them at the stage when priorities are conceived rather than after outcomes are drafted and demonstrating clearly how youth perspectives influence final decisions. Without accountability, participation remains performative.
Public opinion strongly supports this move. Afrobarometer data show that, if governments could increase spending to support young people, citizens’ second priority would be education, behind only job creation.
Yet, government performance on education leaves much to be desired: Only a slim majority of Africans say their governments are doing a good job of addressing educational needs. While approval is high in countries such as Zambia and Tanzania, fewer than one in three citizens express satisfaction in Comoros, Mauritania, Angola, Chad, Nigeria and Congo-Brazzaville.
Curricula misaligned with the continent cannot prepare its youth
Nowhere is the opportunity for deeper youth partnership more vital than in curriculum design. While African universities hold rich academic traditions, the imperative to align dynamically with contemporary labour markets, civic needs and technological realities has never been greater.
Curricula must evolve at a pace that reflects the world they are meant to serve, a challenge that has long been recognised in analyses of the misalignment between higher education curricula and labour market demands in Africa.
This necessary evolution is key to closing the gap between theoretical knowledge and societal application. The potential lies in moving beyond traditional pedagogy – where students of public policy might also produce policy briefs, where economics students analyse real budgets, and where theories of governance are applied through direct engagement with the institutions they study.
Such experiential integration ensures graduates are not only knowledgeable, but are immediately effective contributors to development. This gap between learning and application manifests in stark economic realities.
Afrobarometer data reinforces this disconnect. Across 38 surveyed countries, young Africans report significantly higher unemployment than older citizens, despite having more years of formal education.
Nearly half of young people seeking work remain unemployed, frequently citing inadequate training and insufficient experience. These outcomes are not personal shortcomings, but reflect systemic weaknesses in how education is designed.
During the AAU-AB webinar, Professor Elisabeth Ayuk-Etang from Cameroon, an associate professor at Xavier University of Louisiana, emphasised that universities can no longer treat curricula as fixed or untouchable blueprints.
Relevance requires flexibility, iterative revision and sustained dialogue with students, employers and communities. Without such alignment, institutions risk producing graduates who are academically credentialed yet functionally constrained.
As reflected in a Clemence Manyukwe, 2025 University World News article titled, ‘Passive? No, students want to be co-creators of solutions’, a clear dissonance persists. Institutions may celebrate student innovation rhetorically, yet rarely build the formal structures that empower students to influence curricula, governance, or institutional priorities. The will to transform exists, but the mechanisms to support it remain weak.
Evidence and experience point to the same gap
A defining outcome of the AAU-AB dialogue was the powerful highlight of the convergence between data and student experiences, highlighting an urgent need for higher education to better align with Africa’s evolving social, economic and technological landscape.
This shared insight underscores a collective imperative for institutions to adapt their approaches to fully prepare graduates for the continent’s present and future.
Today’s students are digital, mobile, socially conscious and globally connected. They navigate technological ecosystems that are reshaping economies, governance and civic life. This presents a pivotal opportunity for universities to evolve their pedagogical and governance models to better harness this energy and connectivity.
Contemporary innovation ecosystems, whether in technology, design, entrepreneurship or public policy, increasingly demand graduates who can think and work across disciplines. Real-world problem-solving requires skills that interact rather than exist in isolation.
Designers must understand logistics, technologists must understand markets, and young professionals must be able to move confidently across roles and sectors.
To fully meet this demand, there is a growing need to further break down traditional academic silos within higher education. Encouraging more interdisciplinary learning and collaboration can foster the experimentation and adaptable competencies that today’s labour markets increasingly value.
Co-creation is a development strategy, not a slogan
The AAU-AB dialogue made it clear that co-creation must move beyond a pedagogical ideal. It is fundamentally a development strategy central to Africa’s long-term transformation.
Education systems that sideline youth in decision-making struggle to build legitimacy. Labour markets that evolve independently of universities cannot absorb graduates sustainably. Curricula detached from contemporary realities cannot cultivate the analytical, technical and civic capacities the continent urgently requires.
This imperative extends beyond higher education. A 2025 University World News analysis by Eve Ruwoko on South Africa’s just transition agenda warned that a sustainable future “cannot be designed for youth without the meaningful participation of youth”. Policies intended to serve the next generation consistently falter when participation is symbolic rather than substantive.
Meeting this challenge calls for a reorientation of institutional culture, including the expansion of governance spaces wherein youth exercise genuine influence, the adoption of iterative and evidence-informed approaches to curriculum reform, and the strengthening of partnerships with industry, civil society and youth-led networks.
It also demands epistemic humility, recognising that expertise does not reside exclusively with senior academics or policymakers.
The choice before African higher education
A decisive choice confronts African higher education. Institutions can continue designing systems without youth and produce graduates misaligned with the continent’s shifting realities. Or they can recognise young people as partners with agency and lived experience, creating the relevance and adaptability universities urgently need.
Co-creation cannot remain a slogan or a symbolic gesture. It is a strategic necessity, and the pace of institutional action will shape Africa’s future.
Lydia Nyame is a strategic communication professional at the Association of African Universities (AAU) with expertise in media production and documentary storytelling. Her work focuses on amplifying the impact of African higher education, research and innovation.
Felicia Nkrumah Kuagbedzi is the acting coordinator for ICT, communications and knowledge management at the AAU. Her work focuses on digital transformation, strategic communications, project management and advancing women’s leadership in higher education across Africa.
Maame Akua Amoah Twum is the communications manager at Afrobarometer. She works to position Afrobarometer as the go-to source for reliable data on African public opinion, crafting narratives that connect evidence to policy and elevate citizen voices in decision-making spaces across the continent and globally. She also plays a key role in driving digital engagement, managing media partnerships, and strengthening internal communications across Afrobarometer’s network.
This article is a commentary. Commentary articles are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of University World News or Afrobarometer.