ACAF Africa Academic Freedom Monitoring Report 2025: Academic Freedom In Africa Under Severe Structural Stress
ACCRA, Ghana – On 23 June 2026, the Africa Coalition for Academic Freedom (ACAF) released its comprehensive 2025 Academic Freedom Monitoring Report, documenting 341 incidents (246 violations against 95 positive developments) across 28 African countries and revealing that academic freedom across the continent remains under significant structural stress. With a 72% violation rate, the report details, among others, systematic financial failures, governance crises and repression by the State, within African universities, as well as instances of intra-mural authoritarianism by university management and, in some respects, by academics, with students bearing the brunt of a significant number of the abuses.
"Academic freedom in Africa is not merely under pressure—it is under systematic assault," said Professor Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, Regional Director of ACAF. "We see a pattern of State repression within the larger polity manifesting itself on university campuses, which is a worrying trend. Violation of the university’s autonomy cascades to affect the academic freedom of academics and students and denies it the soft power it should enjoy to promote and protect democracy in the larger society,” he continued.
Three Critical Crisis Areas Identified
The report identifies three continental emergency situations requiring urgent intervention by the African Union and the international community:
- Uganda's April 2025 Sweep: Described as the continent's most concentrated single-month attack on academic freedom, the Ugandan government centralized all university admissions, scrapped over 1,000 academic programs, and deployed live ammunition against students at Kyambogo University protesting fee surcharges.
- The Situation in Zimbabwe: Attacks on universities targeting management, academics and students have shattered the academic freedom space and further endangered the lives of academics and students in Zimbabwe. Academics are forcibly enrolled in the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology run by the ruling ZANU-PF for indoctrination. Students who have opposed President Mnangagwa’s presidential term extension have been harassed, abducted, and arbitrarily detained. Academic union leaders are dismissed, suspended and or denied access to their salaries. Court processes to challenges these excesses have been stalled.
- Cameroon Anglophone Crisis: Over 700,000 students remain affected, with schools attacked, teachers targeted, and near-total impunity. In May 2025, approximately 70 University of Bamenda students were arrested during a military sweep.
Five Student Deaths, Student Repression, Zero Systemic Reforms
The report documented five student deaths across four sub-regions in 2025, including the fatal shooting of Sisonke Mbolekwa by a residence manager at Walter Sisulu University (South Africa) during a housing protest, and the death of a female pharmacy student at the University of Tripoli (Libya) after being compelled to sit for an examination while medically unfit.
"Campus mental health is an unaddressed crisis across many campuses," Professor Appiagyei-Atua noted. "The absence of any documented systemic response to five preventable student deaths is itself a monitoring finding requiring dedicated follow-up in 2026."
The report also documents the criminalization of protest accelerating across at least six countries, with governments responding to legitimate academic expression with criminal prosecution, live ammunition, suspension, or expulsion in Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Cameroon, DRC, Algeria, and Egypt.
Financial Failure Dominates Violation Categories
Financial failures emerged as the primary violation category with over 80 documented cases involving unpaid salaries, pension arrears, scholarship corruption, and fee hikes. Poor university governance accounted for 60 cases, while violence and killings—including five student deaths—represented 20 documented incidents.
Nigeria's 16-year-old ASUU labour dispute peaked in April 2025 with 35 documented incidents in a single month, involving ₦150 billion in outstanding revitalization funds. In Kenya, ₦50 billion is owed to 34 private universities spanning nine years, with ₦25.9 billion in pension arrears documented.
Regional Breakdown: Improvement Noted but Structural Issues Persist
West Africa (180 incidents, 69% violations): Labour disputes and broken agreements dominate, with Ghana leading on positive reforms and Nigeria demonstrating a paradox of bold investment alongside serious rights violations.
East Africa (63 incidents, 73% violations): Structural funding shortfalls and poor working conditions persist. Uganda's April sweep remains the defining crisis.
North Africa (31 incidents, 74% violations): The region showed dramatic improvement from a 100% violation rate in H1 to 56% in H2, though student prosecution and expression restrictions remain region-wide concerns.
Southern Africa (46 incidents, 76% violations): Highest governance failure rate. Financial exclusion and campus unrest documented throughout the year.
Central Africa (21 incidents, 86% violations): Armed conflict in DRC and Cameroon's Anglophone crisis create the continent's highest violation rate. Systemic sexual corruption documented in Rwanda's universities.
The overall continental violation rate decreased from 79% in the first half of 2025 to 58% in the second half, representing meaningful improvement but with structural failures remaining largely unresolved.
Positive Developments Show Path Forward
Despite the challenges, the report documents 95 positive developments across the continent, demonstrating that progress remains possible. Ghana's No-Fee-Stress policy covers 156,000+ first-year students with the GETFund expanded to GH¢150 million. Namibia announced free tertiary education at all state universities and vocational colleges from 2026—the continent's most consequential access-to-education announcement in 2025.
Other significant positive developments include Kenya's 80% penalty waiver for HELB loan defaulters, Cameroon's resumption of PhD admissions across 11 state universities with 600 slots, and Guinea's launch of the PLUDOC platform providing 2 million+ academic resources freely accessible to researchers.
ACAF Calls for Immediate Action
"This report is not just documentation—it is a call to action for governments, universities, the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, and international partners," Professor Appiagyei-Atua concluded. "Academic freedom is foundational to democratic governance, innovation, and sustainable development. The violations documented here threaten Africa's future."
Key Actions by ACAF on 2025 Report
- Issued formal advocacy letters to governments and universities over academic freedom violations in Zimbabwe, Cameroon, and Comoros.
- Engaged African Commission Special Rapporteurs and relevant ministries on threats to academic freedom and trade union rights.
- Called for independent investigations into dismissals, suspensions, intimidation, and harassment of scholars and union leaders.
- Documented and published academic freedom violations on ACAF’s website to increase visibility and support for affected scholars.
- Used social media and online platforms to highlight major academic freedom violations across Africa and draw public attention.
- Working in eight African universities to promote awareness, peer education, policy dialogue, strengthen the future of academic freedom advocacy in Africa and establish Academic Freedom Clubs.
- Publish conference proceedings from the continental dialogue on safeguarding academic freedom in Africa.
- Holding workshops across Africa to develop the African Principles on Academic Freedom and strengthen regional collaboration among scholars.
The full 2025 Academic Freedom Monitoring Report is available for download at www.acafafrica.org.
Download PDF: [86202623621-k5frj7u2h0-academic-freedom-report-2025-final.pdf]
About the Africa Coalition for Academic Freedom (ACAF)
The Africa Coalition for Academic Freedom (ACAF) is a continental network dedicated to monitoring and defending academic freedom across Africa. ACAF tracks violations, documents threats, analyzes trends, and advocates for the protection of academic rights across African universities and research institutions. Through comprehensive monitoring and evidence-based advocacy, ACAF works to ensure that students, academics, and institutions can pursue knowledge, teach, learn, and conduct research free from interference, intimidation, or repression.