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Education played transformative roles in ancient African societies, as its objectives were clear and its expected functions were determined according to the child›s abilities until maturity, and based on the requirements of the learner›s ambitions until his or her independence. In the Western colonial era, the purpose of education in general and higher education in particular was to maintain the survival of colonial administrations and their economy in the colonized African lands and societies. The right to higher education was one of the aspirations of Africans during their struggle for independence, even if most African countries today - decades after independence - maintain a higher education based on the Western colonial model, which affects the efforts of renaissance in African societies. This paper discussed the issue of higher education as one of the basic pillars for achieving renaissance in African societies. It presented the current state of higher education in Africa through its main challenges, such as the lack of synergy between the objectives of higher education and national agendas; the funding crisis; the inadequacy of curricula with development requirements and local issues; the weakness of the infrastructure of higher education; and issues of capacity building, research, and quality. The paper also touched on some of the elements that must motivate higher education institutions to be able to perform their role, such as reviewing higher institutions curricula, integrating African knowledge into the higher education system, creating knowledge that enables African societies to design their policies, address their issues, and achieve their ambitions based on the results of scientific research, establishing an incentive system based on research outputs and their developmental impact, and conducting a regular evaluation of higher education institutions and their outputs. In conclusion, the paper presented several recommendations to develop critical thinkers and graduate innovative students who are able to address the unique challenges facing their societies and have the expertise to be entrepreneurs, create jobs, and drive Africa’s economies forward.
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