Africa grapples with low numbers of master’s and PhD graduates, with the continent producing less than 2 per cent of the world’s doctoral degrees and less than 5 per cent of master’s degrees. This stark reality raises critical concerns about higher education in Africa, particularly in research and graduate training.
According to Professor Maurice N. Amutabi a scholar and examiner for multiple universities in Africa, the issue is deeply rooted in systemic challenges, including poor supervision, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and institutional mismanagement.
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According to Prof Amutabi, one of the major causes of delayed completion of graduate degrees is the attitude of supervisors. Some supervisors act as gatekeepers, deliberately slowing down students’ progress due to envy or fear of competition. They delay providing feedback, sometimes misplacing students’ work repeatedly. Others insist on receiving hard copies instead of digital versions, which wastes time and frustrates students. In some extreme cases, thesis chapters have been lost in bars or lodgings, leaving students with no choice but to start over.
Another significant problem, according to the professor is that many supervisors lack proper training and skills to guide students effectively. In several African universities, individuals who have just completed their PhDs are quickly assigned supervision roles without undergoing any formal training in mentorship. As a result, they struggle to guide students through the research process. Poor supervision strategies lead to confusion, with some supervisors instructing students to start their research with a statement of the problem rather than formulating a research title and abstract. This lack of standardization creates delays and makes research unnecessarily difficult for students.
Prof Amutabi also points out that some supervisors carry trauma from their own academic journeys and, in turn, exert unnecessary pressure on their students. These supervisors impose personal struggles onto their students, telling them that completing a PhD in three years is unrealistic because they themselves took a decade. Others discourage young scholars, claiming that they are too young for a PhD, while older students are told they should not rush since they started late. This form of academic bullying extends beyond the classroom, with some supervisors even discussing students’ personal lives in bars, conspiring with colleagues on whom to frustrate and whom to favor.
The professor highlights conflicts between supervisors as another cause of delays. Many students become victims of internal power struggles between supervisors who seek to assert dominance over each other. Some conflicts arise when junior lecturers, who have just obtained their PhDs, are placed in positions where they must work alongside senior professors. Rather than focusing on helping students succeed, these supervisors become embroiled in academic ego wars. Consequently, students are often caught in the middle, receiving contradictory instructions that slow down their progress. In some cases, internal examiners intentionally fail students simply because they dislike their supervisors.
Laziness and mental fatigue among supervisors are also major obstacles to timely completion of graduate degrees. According to Prof Amutabi, some supervisors avoid taking students altogether, while those who do often neglect their responsibilities. They take weeks or months to provide feedback, fail to respond to emails or calls, and, when they finally do, offer minimal or unhelpful comments. This lack of commitment leaves students stranded, unable to proceed with their work. Worse still, when students manage to complete their theses, these supervisors become internal examiners and sometimes fail them out of personal resentment.
Prof Amutabi further asserts that the exploitation of students by predatory supervisors, both financially and sexually is tragic. Some supervisors use their authority to extract favors from students, demanding that they pay for coffee meetings, meals, or personal errands.
In extreme cases, some supervisors engage in unethical behavior by coercing students into inappropriate relationships in exchange for academic progression. Such toxic environments make it difficult for students to focus on their research, leading to prolonged completion times or complete abandonment of studies.
Professor Amutabi says bias and discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or economic background also contribute to low graduation rates. Some male supervisors are unwilling to support female students, and some female lecturers deliberately frustrate their female counterparts.
Additionally, ethnicity plays a role in academic favoritism, with some lecturers offering preferential treatment to students from their ethnic communities while disregarding others. In some universities, students from non-English-speaking African countries, such as Ethiopia and Somalia, face discrimination from lecturers who assume they are incapable of producing quality research. Wealthier students may receive better support from supervisors compared to those from less privileged backgrounds.
Rigid adherence to outdated academic structures also slows down graduate students’ progress. According to the professor, some supervisors force students to strictly follow their personal theses or dissertations as the ultimate reference model. Instead of allowing students to explore new perspectives, they insist that their method is the only correct one. Others focus excessively on citation styles such as APA or Chicago, marking students harshly for minor formatting errors instead of evaluating the quality of research content. This kind of micromanagement frustrates students and unnecessarily prolongs their studies.
Furthermore, some supervisors demand that students cite their own books and publications in their research. According to Professor Amutabi, some scholars plagiarize research manuals from Western scholars such as Creswell and Kothari and pass them off as original work. They then force students to reference these low-quality materials, which adds little value to research but serves to inflate their academic profiles.
Prof Amutabi also notes that African universities do little to prepare students for success in graduate studies. Unlike universities in the United States, where students receive guides and mentorship on choosing the right supervisors, most African universities assign students supervisors without their input. Some students are unknowingly paired with supervisors who have poor track records, making it almost impossible for them to complete their studies in a reasonable timeframe.
Solution to the Menace
The professor suggests that African universities should implement graduate student survival kits that provide new students with crucial information about their academic journey. Universities should also establish conflict resolution committees where students can report problematic supervisors without fear of victimization.
Additionally, there should be clear timelines for feedback on research work to prevent unnecessary delays.
According to the professor, training for supervisors should be mandatory before they are allowed to take on graduate students. Universities should introduce structured mentorship programs to ensure that only experienced scholars supervise master’s and PhD students. Moreover, students should be given a say in selecting their supervisors to avoid pairing them with scholars who have a history of delaying students.
Addressing these challenges could significantly boost the number of graduate students in Africa and improve the overall quality of higher education on the continent. Without urgent reforms, African universities will continue to struggle in producing qualified researchers, further widening the global academic gap.
