A ‘global’ model currently shapes our imagination of universities in the 21st century. This prototype responds to global trends in policy discourse and practices, including the embrace of research excellence initiatives, university league tables (rankings), market-driven funding models (e.g., cost-sharing), climate change and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, there are growing concerns with quality, equity, gender, employability, decolonisation, and emancipatory agendas.

Against this backdrop, African universities are braced with existential challenges at regional and national levels. These universities have to negotiate their character between the pursuit of excellence and difficult political and economic conditions. In the convergence of global trends and local realities, the modern African university’s character and fabric emerge and gain specific forms.

To critically examine the current dynamics of change affecting the African university we have raised financial support from the German Volkswagen Foundation to convene two international conferences, the first in Maputo, Mozambique, which took place in 2022, and the second to be held 12–14 September 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. The two gatherings aim to deepen critical reflection on the modes of production and conditions of the possibility of the African university as it negotiates its character between the pressures of local realities and global trends.

Furthermore, the salient sociological understanding of the university as a unified global cultural reference system is to be interrogated and recalibrated. What are the peculiarities of African universities and how should they respond to the push for global standardisation? Finally, from a political standpoint, the conferences aim to enrich the debate and strengthen the development of the higher education systems in which African universities are located. For the upcoming conference in September 2023 in Cape Town, we invite scholars from higher education studies, adjacent fields, university leaders and policymakers to share their critical analysis, experiences and expertise on the current developments of the African university.

We hope to unearth the defining and emerging features of the current university in Africa as we begin the second quarter of the millennium. We intend to combine different lines of inquiry and understanding of African universities’ organisational, institutional, and systemic features. We invite contributions that help ask the pertinent questions: The questions should address the global trends, regional and local realities shaping the African university as it reconciles with its past and negotiates its present and future.