Africa’s youthquake is set to ferment a university revolution. Philanthropy must play its part

 “Africa is the future.” It’s a phrase increasingly echoed in the world’s boardrooms and philanthropy circles — most recently by Bill Gates, who urged donors to prioritise Africa in their giving. Yet, when it comes to education philanthropy — particularly support for African universities — the sector remains far from future-ready. 

Africa is experiencing a seismic demographic shift. By 2050, the continent will be home to nearly 40% of the world’s youth. This “youthquake” is both a historic opportunity and a looming crisis. With the right infrastructure — especially in higher education — it could generate a demographic dividend, fuelling entrepreneurship, innovation, and resilience. Without it, the continent risks a generation left behind.

Philanthropy has a critical role to play. But today’s global funding patterns reveal a troubling mismatch between rhetoric and reality.

Less than 0.3% of global education funding comes from ODA in low-income countries
— OECD

Between 2010 and 2019, the Gates Foundation — often seen as a bellwether for global education giving — directed the majority of its education-related funding to institutions in the Global North. Reviewing its funding data published by IATI, I found that African universities were rarely principal recipients of grants. More often, they were relegated to subordinate or sub-contracting roles to Northern research institutions.

This reflects a broader philanthropic tendency to sideline institutional strengthening in favour of project-based aid. Despite growing calls for “capacity building,” few funders provide the core support needed to transform universities into durable innovation engines. The under-resourcing of African universities is not merely financial — it is physical. Much of the continent’s university infrastructure dates back to the colonial and early independence eras. Dormitories, laboratories, and libraries are frequently outdated or dilapidated. Digital connectivity remains patchy, and student–teacher ratios are among the highest in the world.

 According to the World Bank’s Education Finance Watch (2024), most African governments spend 3–4% of GDP on education — often well below global benchmarks. Within that, higher education receives a disproportionately small share, squeezed by rising enrolments and debt service obligations. Meanwhile, ODA to education is shrinking. Education’s share of global official development assistance fell from 9.3% in 2019 to 7.6% in 2022, with higher education among the most vulnerable sectors. 

Many foundations avoid funding infrastructure, assuming it is a state responsibility. Governments, constrained by fiscal tightening and mounting debt, wait for philanthropic or private sector support.

The result is a vacuum.

This deadlock has left many African universities under-equipped to handle surging student populations — let alone lead cutting-edge research. Without new lecture halls, modern labs, or sufficient housing, enrolment growth outpaces capacity, and research output stagnates.

South Africa provides a cautionary tale. For decades, its universities were global leaders in infectious disease research, notably in HIV and tuberculosis. Its scientists were among the first to detect the Beta and Omicron COVID-19 variants, supported by a robust pipeline of NIH and philanthropic funding.

Then, in 2025, U.S. federal funding to South Africa was abruptly cut. Projects shuttered overnight. Trials were halted midstream. As The New York Times reported, a globally respected research ecosystem — decades in the making — unravelled in months.

Dr Ntobeko Ntusi of the South African Medical Research Council called it “one of the biggest success stories to come out of South Africa in the last three decades,” now at risk of collapse. Others warned of a lost generation of African scientists trained, but unsupported.

Universities show a low likelihood of receiving flexible donations… due to donor agendas and operational structures.
— OECD

A 2024 OECD study found that only 16–19% of philanthropic giving is unrestricted. Even among large global funders, flexible core funding remains rare — particularly for universities. Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the least likely regions to receive flexible funding, with most grants earmarked for tightly defined, short-term projects.

 This aversion to risk and rigidity in giving models prevents universities from investing in what matters most: systems, talent, infrastructure, and time.

 What Africa’s higher education sector needs now is capital philanthropy - investment in the institutional core, not just its programmes. That means:

  • Endowments to retain faculty and fund scholarships

  • Infrastructure support for student housing, labs, and connectivity

  • Direct research funding under African leadership

  • Blended finance models that de-risk public–private partnerships

  • Challenge grants to encourage government co-investment

This is not about handouts — it’s about building universities that can hold their own in the global research and innovation ecosystem. 

The demographic future of Africa is non-negotiable. By 2050, one in every four people on Earth will be African. The question is whether they will be educated, empowered, and equipped — or excluded and underemployed.

 Bill Gates is right to prioritise Africa. But if philanthropy doesn’t align its strategies to build institutions — not just fund initiatives — it risks squandering the most consequential development opportunity of the 21st century.

If the 20th century saw philanthropy help build the universities that led to penicillin, the polio vaccine, and the digital revolution, the 21st century demands a new horizon: building the African universities that will shape the next century.

The youthquake is coming. The philanthropic imagination must rise to meet it.