Curriculum Charges in Times of Uncertainty in African Higher Education
Kehdinga George Fomunyam 
Issue: Vol.6 No.13 Article 4 pp.55 – 67
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20256134 | Published online 30th December, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
The African higher education landscape is increasingly shaped by global and local uncertainties, including economic volatility, political instability, climate change, and technological disruptions. These challenges necessitate a critical re-examination of curriculum design and charges to ensure relevance, resilience, and responsiveness to the needs of students and society. This paper, therefore, explored the role of curriculum in addressing uncertainty within African higher education, emphasising the need for adaptive, inclusive, and context-sensitive approaches. Drawing on case context, the paper highlights the importance of integrating interdisciplinary knowledge, fostering critical thinking, and promoting lifelong learning. It also examined the tensions between theory, theorising and practice and recommended the reimagining of curricula that empower students to navigate an uncertain future. This paper was designed as a theoretical paper dealing with theoretical insights and methodological fundamentals articulated by other researchers. The paper concludes that curriculum charges and practicals should be at the centre of curriculum studies in African higher education. It also recommends that there is a need to reimagine the purpose of the curriculum in every country on the continent, as well as what it should do.
Keywords: Curriculum Charges, Curriculum Studies in Crisis, African Higher Education, Fourth Industrial Revolution, Curriculum Theory
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Dr Kehdinga is a multiple award-winning scholar who started his higher education career at the University of Adam Barka in Chad and later joined the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2012 as a Lecturer in the School of Education, where he taught both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. In 2016, he moved to the Higher Education Training and Development Unit within the same university, where he focused on training master’s and PhD Students on research excellence. He later joined the Durban University of Technology as a Senior Research Fellow and Project Leader. He has published several scientific papers on STEM education, Curriculum Studies, Teaching and Learning, Decolonisation, amongst others. He has supervised more than 22 postgraduate students to completion and has published more than 50 peer-reviewed, accredited research articles. He has also edited five published books.
Fomunyam, Kehdinga George.“Curriculum Charges in Times of Uncertainty in African Higher Education.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no. 13 (2025): 41 – 54, https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20256134
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
