The Association of African Universities was formed at Rabat in
1967. In1972 it held a workshop in Accra which resulted in
Creating the African University: Emerging Issues of the 1970s
(ed. T. M. Yesufu, Ibadan: Oxford University Press, 1973). In 1992,
the AAU commissioned the study under review, entrusting it to former
vice-chancellors of Lagos and Zambia, and the founding rector of the
Université de Bénin. The focus, on universities in
tropical Africa, is narrower than the title implies, but of the eleven
chapters three consider developments before 1960 and three more survey
the next three decades. In part, then, this is a work of history (and
certain admirably terse passages of historical summary suggest the
hand of the professional historian). It does not, however, claim
originality in this respect: inevitably, its earlier sections lean
heavily on Ashby, and it has to be said that in general the study is
based on a somewhat unsystematic selection of sources. The list of
references is disfigured by errors and the index by omissions: it
requires much effort to establish, for example, the substantial role
of the U.S.A., not only through USAID but through such bodies as the
International Council for Educational Development. Still, this is a
judicious overview of a large, if depressing, subject, by eminent
scholars who are not afraid to criticize their own colleagues as well
as governments and outside agencies. ‘The failure of many
African academics to fully appreciate the necessity to defend autonomy
in the long-term interest of the academy was one of the most enduring
legacies of the colonial situation’ (p. 95).
Assessing soil redistribution of forest and cropland sites in wet tropical Africa using <sup>239+240</sup>Pufallout radionuclides