Zambezia (1981), IX (ii).AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES FORAFRICAN STUDENTS, 1959-75N.T. CHIDEYAInformation Office, University of ZimbabweTHE UNITED STATES, in conducting her foreign policy, developed foreign aidstrategies which were geared towards realizing the goals and objectives of thatforeign policy. Implicit in these strategies was the idea that foreign aid wasnecessary to ensure not only the rapid development of recipient nations, but also acertain type of development. Thus while the Point Four strategy (created in 1949)aimed at the 'know-how' approach to rapid development, the DevelopmentAssistance strategy (created in the early 1960s) aimed at developing the humanresources by introducing new attitudes, values and institutions in the recipientnations.In this article I will focus on that aspect of the Development Assistanceprogrammes which aimed at providing, through the scholarship programmes whichwere organized in the 1960s, highly skilled manpower who would play a role in themodernizing process. Among the programmes were those sponsored by AID(Agency for International Development) such as the African Scholarship Programof American Universities (ASPAU) in 1961, the African Graduate FellowshipProgram (AFGRAD) in 1963 and the Inter-African Universities Program(INTERAF) in 1967, and the Southern African Scholarship Program (SASP) in1961 sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of theDepartment of State.These African scholarship programmes were perhaps the most importantAmerican contribution to African higher education. They were created at a timewhen the universities in Africa were not in a position to train adequate manpower.They recognized the lack of highly skilled manpower in the African nations by'enskilling people'.1My intention in this article is not so much to describe these programmes as toexplore and analyse their development in the light of the ideology of Americaneducational aid. I will show that these programmes were created in response to aconcern wider than the mere training and provision of highly skilled manpower.This will be done in three stages. First I will analyse the motives of the UnitedStates in creating the scholarship programmes. Second, I will analyse the uniquehistorical circumstances leading to the creation of each programme and theaccomplishments of each programme. Finally, I will discuss the place that theseprogrammes had in the overall ideology of American educational aid.1 A, Lepawsky. 'Enskilling people". International Development Review (1961), III, iii. 16Š22.137138 AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES FOR AFRICAN STUDENTSMOTIVES BEHIND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMESIn order to understand the motives behind American involvement in thescholarship aspect of development assistance, it is necessary for us to examine theinternational political scene at the time of the onset of African independence in thelate 1950s and the 1960s. Several factors were at work. To begin with, the colonialpowers were 'leaving' Africa, at least politically. By giving up their political powerin the African colonies, they opened wide the doors for such non-colonial powers asthe United States and the Soviet Union to move in and fill the vacuum.Second, the colonial powers left the colonies with hardly adequate qualifiedmanpower to take over their operation effectively. The few universities theycreated and left behind were exclusively elitist institutions whose output hardly metthe manpower needs of either public or private sectors.Third, the colonial powers, despite their elitist institutions, could not 'quenchthe Africans' thirst for knowledge'.2 The colonial university colleges catered for avery small percentage of qualified students, leaving thousands of students unable toget a university education. This point is significant in that we have to recognize thatit was the colonial powers who left a legacy which equated a university educationwith success. A university education, indeed, became a passport to a good job and agood life. Consequently, more and more students strove to obtain that passport forthemselves.These three factors were influential in attracting American as well as Sovietinterest in Africa. The two powers shared the image of being clean-handed asregards the possession of colonies, America posing as the first rejector of Britishcolonialism, as was noted by Arthur W. Hummel, the Deputy Assistant Secretaryof State in charge of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in 1965:the United States now has a better opportunity than any other nation Inthe world to influence the future trends of African development. Wehave no record of colonial domination in Africa, and therefore there areno residual antagonisms rooted in past unpleasant relationships tocondition attitudes against the United States.3As for the Soviet Union, the works of Lenin against colonialism, especially hisImperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, could be cited4 as evidence ofRussian disinterestedness.Both powers recognized the need to assist the new African nations byproviding facilities for the training of highly skilled manpower needed in thedevelopment of these nations. Both powers recognized the presence of the thirst for2 J. Okello-Oculi, 'Motives of foreign scholarships: The race for Cold War infiltration of Africanpolities', East African Journal (1967), IV, vii, 16.3U.S. Congress: House Committee on Foreign Affairs: Subcommittee on Africa, AfricanStudents and Study Programs in the United States. Report and Hearings, pursuant to H. Res, 84(89th Congress) (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965), 141.4 Okello-Oculi, 'Motives of foreign scholarships', 16.N. T. CHtDEYA139education and, like Good Samaritans, they offered scholarships which weregrabbed without hesitation.But we should also bear in mind that since the Second World War a Cold Warhas existed between the United States and the Soviet Union, a state of affairs whichhas been a key element in international relations. The United States sought tocontain the spread of Communism by making her presence felt through foreign aidprogrammes not only in the nations of Europe and the Far East, but in the newnations of Africa as well. Thus it can be said that American scholarshipprogrammes for Africans were created more as a challenge to Soviet interests inAfrica than as a humanitarian interest in the development of the African nations.Ashby appropriately termed the late 1950s and the early 1960s a period of the'scholarship invasion' of Africa, an expression which is indicative of thecompetition between the United States and the Soviet Union for influence inAfrica.5Indeed the scholarship programmes were initiated precisely because theyentailed not only the transfer of skills and knowledge to the nationals from the newAfrican countries. They also meant an exposure to the values, norms, and practicesof the donor nations. It was not only an exercise in the provision of substantiveskills, it also included an inculcation of the attitudes and values. Baer makes thepoint that the African students were viewed as the proto-elites of their emergingnations, to be trained and then to assume positions of authority within their newlyindependent countries.6 Thus, indeed, these programmes were bound to influencethe future leaders of Africa. As Mazrui writes: 'the skills and intellectual habits thatthe students acquired in the course of their training in the United States are bound tohave some kind of cumulative influence on certain aspects of national life in theirown countries'.7 The first major effort began with the Kenya student 'airlifts' andthe Nigerian-American Scholarship Program in 1959, which led to such AID-sponsored programmes as the ASPAU in 1961, AFGRAD in 1963 and INTERAFin 1967, and at about the same time that ASPAU was created the Bureau ofEducational and Cultural Affairs started a special programme, SASP. Thishistorical analysis will deal first with the AID programmes, followed by adiscussion of the SASP,THE KENYA STUDENT 'AIRLIFTS5American participation in the scholarship invasion began with the student 'airlifts'from Kenya organized in part at the urging of Tom Mboya, a Kenyan trade union5E. Ashby, Universities: British, Indian and African (Cambridge MA, Harvard Univ. Press,1966), 270.6 K.L. Baer, African Students in the East and West, 1959-1966: An Analysis of Experiences andAttitudes (Syracuse NY, Syracuse Univ., Program of Eastern African Studies, Paper 54, 1979),preface.7A.A. Mazrui, 'The functions of anti-Americanism in African political development', AfricaReport (1969), XIV, i, 12.140 AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES FOR AFRICAN STUDENTSleader. Mboya's rationale for seeking American assistance was that the UniversityCollege of East Africa was not in a position to provide for the manpower need.Between 1957 and 1958 the college had produced only 76 graduates.8 In responseto Mboya's requests some American private concerns hastily arranged for someKenyan students to come to the United States. Organizations such as the AfricanAmerican Students Foundation9 and the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation10provided the funds for 81 students in 1959 and chartered four planes to bring anadditional 288 students in I960.11These early efforts were largely ill-conceived. Most of the African studentswho came were not ready for college work and some of them were sent to somemediocre American universities and colleges.12 Nonetheless, the fact is that thiswas the first large-scale American scholarship programme and that it wasconsistent with the rise in American interest in African affairs at the time.THE NIGERIAN^AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM13As in the case of the Kenya 'airlifts', a major effort for getting assistance forNigerian students was carried out by private concerns and at the urging of Africanleaders. The provision of American scholarships to Nigerian students was a resultof the 1959 discussions between Stephen O. Awokoya, Nigerian Federal Ministerof Education, and David Henry, Director of Admission at Harvard College. Thesediscussions focused on the scarcity of highly skilled manpower in the Africannations south of the Sahara. In the case of Nigeria, there was only one universitycollege at Ibadan, Awokoya expressed his wish to send some Nigerian students tothe United States. As a result, Henry agreed to arrange with a number of Americanuniversities and colleges to admit the students and give them tuition scholarships.Awokoya agreed to get the Nigerian Government to pay the travel costs and Henryarranged with the Education Testing Service at Princeton, New Jersey, to providesome tests for screening the students and, with the 'Experiment in InternationalLiving', a private organization, to provide orientation for the new students. He alsopersuaded the African American Institute, which had an office in Lagos, to agree tobe the administrative agency for the programme and also to play a major role in theselection process. Thus began the pilot programme, the Nigerian-AmericanScholarship Program, which selected and sent some 24 students to 24 participating8 See T. Mboya's Freedom and after (London, Deutsch, 1963), ch. 7; see also his article, 'Africanhigher education: A challenge to America', Atlantic Monthy (1961), CCVIII, 23-6.9V. McKay, Africa in World Politics (New York, Harper and Row, 1963), 394."The Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation contributed US$100,000." Ashby, Universities: British, Indian and African, 266."Ibid."For details of this programme, see African American Institute, A Report on the AfricanScholarship Program of American Universities 1960Š70 (New York, The Institute, 1971), 32-3.N. T, CHIDEYA141universities and colleges.14The programme was a success and its success led to the establishment of suchAID scholarship programmes as the African Scholarship Programme of AmericanUniversities (ASPAU) in 1960, the African Graduate Fellowship Program(AFGRAD) in 1963 and the leter-African Universities Program (INTERAF) in1967. These programmes were administered under contract for AID by theAfrican American Institute (AAI).THE AID PROGRAMMES1. The African Scholarship Program of American Universities (ASPAU)The success of the pilot Nigerian-American programme provided enoughincentive to its American sponsors to expand the scholarship programme to includeother sub-Saharan African nations. The conditions of manpower shortage whichhad led to the Kenyan student airlifts and the Nigerian-American programme werepresent in these other countries, too. Thus ASPAU wasdeveloped in response to the needs of the newly independent Africangovernments for massive infusion of trained manpower since they werenot in a position to educate their own manpower in either the range offields or in the volume required to fill local government and businesspositions,15The programme made available to many other African countries the institutionalresources of the American universities and colleges.The same success formula which had worked in the Nigerian-Americanprogramme was applied. An ASPAU Report (1960-70) referred to 'the successfulpartnership of American universities and colleges, the African governments, theAmerican foundations, the African American Institute and the United StatesGovernment'.16 The number of participating universities and colleges rose to 234in ten years, each being responsible for the tuition scholarships and fees for eachstudent for the duration of his/her baccalaureate studies. Thirty-three Africangovernments participated on the bi-national selection committees and paid thetravel costs of each student. Foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation of NewYork, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the New WorldFoundation provided some of the financial support for the programme." But most14 The institutions included the eight Ivy League schools and the women's colleges in the eastknown as the "Heavenly Seven*.15 Agency for International Development, Evaluation of ASPAU, AFGRAD, and INTERAF:Impact of Regional Scholarship Programs on Manpower Needs in Africa. Report Prepared for theAgency for International Development bv Practical Concepts, Inc. (Washington, U.S. GovernmentPrinting Office, 1973), Section i."'African American Institute, A Report on the African Scholarship Program of AmericanUniversities 1960-70. 1."Between 1960 and 1967, they contributed some US$160,000. See also African AmericanInstitute. A Report on the African Scholarship Program of American Universities 1960-70. 33.142 AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES FOR AFRICAN STUDENTSsignificant was the role played by the AAI in negotiating a contract with theInternational Co-operation Administration (IC A) later to be known as the Agencyfor International Development (AID), which marked the first instance of thesponsoring of an African scholarship programme by a United States Governmentagency.Inspired by the success of the Nigerian-American programme the AAI foundit necessary to negotiate a contract with the ICA for support of the scholarshipprogrammes for African undergraduates. The resultant agreement made the AAIthe contractor, with the ICA in the middle between the participating universitiesand colleges represented by the ASPAU steering committee and the FederalGovernment, and responsible to the United States Government. The initialcontract,18 signed in 1961 between the ICA and AAI for the support of ASPAU,was authorized under the Mutual Security Act of 1954; later contracts came underthe Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.Thus while the participating universities and colleges provided tuitionscholarships, AID provided for student support and administrative costs.Student selection and placement As in the Nigerian-American programme,ASPAU screened students carefully. All applicants were holders of either theCambridge School Certificate (Division 1 or a high Division 2), the CambridgeHigher School Certificate, or the University of London Certificate at Ordinary orAdvanced Levels. It is needless to point out that the competition was great. Largenumbers of studentsŠeven those who qualified to enter the local universitiesŠsubmitted their applications. In addition to meeting the minimum requirement, thecandidates had to take tests specially designed for the programme by theEducational Testing Service.19 To ensure that the programme was taking the beststudents, the candidates also had to appear before a bi-national committee forinterview. As one of the officials pointed out to this writer, ASPAU aimed atgetting at the 'cream' of the African student population. This statement is alsosupported by the fact that the participating universities and colleges understoodtheir responsibility as being that of educating carefully selected individuals.20 The18The contract read, in part: 'It is the intent of the program that students will be selectedprimarily in terms of the most urgent needs for manpower for the balanced and integrated economic andsocial development of the cooperating countries . . , the contractor shall make every effort to developbetween the cooperating countries and students an understanding of the requirements of manpowerutilization and shall in consultation with ASPAU develop procedures whereby the students areencouraged to retum to the cooperating countries or positions in the governments of the cooperatingcountries or positions for which there is the most urgent demand for such manpower utilization. It isexpected that a student will leave the U.S. promptly after the completion of the student's totalprogramme1 (cited in African American Institute, A Report on the African Scholarship Program ofAmerican Universities 1960-70, 7).19K.T. Kinkead, 'Something to take back home', The New Yorker (23 May 1964), 51-86.20 African American Institute, A Report on the African Scholarship Program of AmericanUniversities 1960-70, 7.N. T. CHIDEYA143selection was based largely on Individual interests rather than on manpower needsof the recipient's country21 (see Table I).Upon selection, the scholar recipients were placed in one of the memberinstitutions. A number of considerations were taken into account in placement andthese included:a) The student's level of ability.b) The academic demands of the institutions to which his credentialswere referred.c) The availability of the course he wished to follow.d) The quality of the institution's concern for African students.22En route to their universities and colleges, the students spent some time in anorientation programme conducted by the Experiment in International Living inVermont which provided a home-stay with an American family for each student.The programme generally entailed an introduction to the American way of life.Repatriation The original ASPAU contract indicated that the graduatingstudents would be expected to return to their home countries, but this was neverTable IFIELDS OF STUDY OF ASPAU STUDENTS1960-70Fields of StudyAgriculture and Land ResourcesBusiness, Public Administration and EconomicsEducation and TeachingEngineering and TechnicalLiberal Arts and Social SciencesMedicine, Paramedical and Related FieldsSciencesUrban StudiesTOTALNo. ofStudents83198126523234131287121 594Source: African American Institute. A Report on the African Scholarship Program ofAmerican Universities 1960-70 (New York, The Institute, 1971).-' Ibid. See also Agency for International Development, Evaluation of ASPAU, AFGRAD, andINTERAF: Impact of Regional Scholarship Programs on Manpower Needs in Africa, Section 1."Statement by Richard Moll, Executive Director, ASPAU, quoted in U.S. Congress, AfricanStudents and Study Programs in the United States, 56.144 AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES FOR AFRICAN STUDENTSenforced, as shown by the 36 per cent repatriation rate. Most students stayed on topursue graduate studies and some of them were awarded African GraduateFellowships.2. The African Graduate Fellowship Program (AFGRAD)Buoyed by the initial success of ASPAU, the AAI went on to negotiate a contractwith AID for a graduate programme, the African Graduate Fellowship Program,which began in 1963. The programme was designed to provide graduate andprofessional training for African candidates recommended by their governments,for study in fields related to the primary manpower needs of their countries, and forwhom no training facilities existed in Africa,23 According to the AAI Report onAFGRAD, the programme was a means of accomplishing several priority tasks:university staff development; the upgrading of ministerial professional staff at thehighest levels of competence and training; development of staff for government-sponsored research organizations.24 (See Table II.)AFGRAD operated in much the same way as ASPAU: the AAI played anactive role in the selection of candidates; the participating universities and collegespaid for tuition; the 24 African governments paid travel costs; AID paid for studentsupport and administrative costs of the programme.25Repatriation AFGRAD was set up as a professional and graduate trainingprogramme. It was understood that those who came to the United States wouldreturn to Africa on completion of their set courses. However, as of June 1975 only61.14 per cent of the recipients had returned to Africa. Those who chose not to goback decided to pursue further studies.3. The Inter-African Universities Scholarship Program (INTERAF)The years 1960-7 witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of Africanuniversities, from fewer than 10 in 1960 to more than 30 in 1967. This increaseinevitably improved the capacity of these universities to educate and train their ownmanpower. This contributed to the shift in the focus of scholarship programmes, atleast at the undergraduate level. There was a shift towards training African studentsin Africa rather than in the United States.In response to the increased capacity of the African universities, AID in itsAfrican Higher Education Program (AHEP) awarded two contracts to promotethe new emphasis on educational development in Africa. The first contract wasawarded to the Overseas Liaison Committee to identify and assist pivotal23 African American Institute, Annual Report of the Graduate Fellowship Program 1974-75(New York, The Institute, 1975), 1.24 Ibid," Most of the American universities and colleges which participated in ASPAU also participatedin AFGRAD.N, T. CHIDEYA145Table IIFIELDS OF STUDY OF AFGRAD FELLOWS1963-75No, ofStudents181159154110866865453840312825137TOTAL 1 050Source: African American Institute, A nnual Report of the African Graduate FellowshipProgram 1974^75 (New York, The Institute, 1975),development programmes of undergraduate studies within the African universitieswhich could serve multi-country needs.26 The second was awarded to AAI to developa scholarship programme for African students to attend African universities.27 Thisled to the establishment of the Inter-African Universities Scholarship Program in1967.The task of the AAI in AID's African Higher Education Program was 'toinitiate, administer and then take over to the Africans a systematic mechanism forplacing African students in development fields in African universities. A provisofor support under this particular programme is that the African student be applyingfor admission to an African university outside his home country assuming the fieldof study is not available to him at home'.28Fields of StudyEconomics and Business AdministrationSciencesEngineeringAgricultureEducationAdministrative ProfessionsMathematics, Statistics and Computer ScienceMedicine and DentistryParamedical Fields and Public HealthHumanities and Social ServicesGeography, Demography and Natural ResourcesLinguistics and English as a Second LanguageUrban and Regional Planning, ArchitectureLawLibrary Science26 R.B. Smith, 'The role of foreign assistance to African educational development', Pan AfricanJournal (1968), I, i, 15.27 Ibid.28 Ibid., 14-15.146 AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES FOR AFRICAN STUDENTSStudent selection and placement The selection process for INTERAF involvedan initial formal nomination to the AAI and later to the AAU,29 by the Africangovernments, of qualified candidates, so facilitating their placement in the Africanuniversities.CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE AID SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMESThere were some unique historical circumstances which led to the creation of eachof the scholarship programmes. ASPAU (1960) and AFGRAD (1963) wereestablished in response to the need for trained manpower because the trainingfacilities in Africa at the time were either non-existent or inadequate. INTERAF(1967) reflected a shift in focus from training students abroad to training them in theAfrican universities. That these programmes helped in increasing the numbers ofuniversity-trained individuals is uncontested. But there are some critical points thatneed to be made.First, because of the competitive nature of the programmes, the emphasis wason getting the 'cream' of the African student population. The selection process paidoff, as is indicated by the high success (graduating) ratesŠ91 per cent in ASPAU.92 per cent in AFGRAD and 87 per cent in INTERAF. But when such figures areaccompanied by such low repatriation rates as 36 per cent in ASPAU and 61.14 percent in AFGRAD, it is clear that the programmes had serious limitations. AIDfailed to enforce repatriation of some students in ASPAU and AFGRAD.Students who had graduated stayed for further studies or sought employment.The other problem with these programmes concerned what they were toachieve. It was the declared aim of AID to produce trained manpower, that is,students trained in specific fields related to African national development. But wehave noted that these programmes were academically rather than vocationallyorientated. The participating universities and colleges viewed their mission as thatof preparing individuals for responsibility and not that of training personnel fornational development. The scholarship recipients attended these colleges forindividual satisfaction rather than in the interests of national development.30 Again,the repatriation rates substantiate this point.Of the three programmes, INTERAF was perhaps the best for severalreasons. First, as stated earlier, there was no problem over repatriation as studentswere educated in their own countries. Second, it kept the African students in touchwith their own culture. A major criticism of ASPAU and AFGRAD is that thestudents in these programmes were the 'cream', who came to study in the United29 The Association of African Universities later took over the contract from AAI. SeeOrganizational Capacity of the Association of African Universities. Reports Prepared for the Agencyfor International Development by Practical Concepts, Inc. (Washington, U.S. Government PrintingOffice, 1973).30 For a full discussion of this point, see Agencv for International Development, Evaluation ofASPAU, AFGRAD and INTERAF, Section 1.N. T. CH1DEYA147States for extended periods of time away from their own culture, leading inevitablyto problems of cultural alienation when, or rather if, they returned to their owncountries.At the end of this article I will relate these problems to the ideology ofAmerican educational aid. But I will first discuss a different kind of scholarshipprogramme, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of theDepartment of State, the Southern African Scholarship Program (SASP) designedfor African students from the non-independent states in Southern Africa. Theuniqueness of this programme lay in its clearly stated objectives, unlike the AIDscholarship programmes whose objectives were couched in developmental terms,THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM (SASP)31Compared to ASPAU, AFGRAD and INTERAF, the Southern AfricanScholarship Program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs was,perhaps, the most politically motivated programme. It was created in 1961, atabout the same time that ASPAU came into being. Whereas ASPAU was directedtowards those African nations on the verge of political independence, SASP wascreated to serve African students, mostly refugees, from the White-ruled nations ofSouthern Africa, It wasinitiated by the Department of State as part of the Fulbright-HaysEducational Exchange Program in the belief that a sweep of inde-pendence would soon arrive in Southern Africa. It was felt that the whiteminority governments of South Africa, South West Africa (nowdesignated Namibia by the United Nations), Angola, Mozambique andRhodesia as well as the then British colonial governments in SouthernAfrica, would within a decade certainly accede to or be forced toimplement majority rale. Consequently, SASP was begun as an urgenteffort to provide educational training to students, primarily from thosecountries, who would be initially needed for majority rule, self govern-ment and development.32The features which make this programme unique are not so much those whichdeal with the provision of trained African manpower, as in ASPAU, but the31 For details, see U.S. Congress, African Students and Study Programs. See also J.W. Jacqz,Refugee Students from Southern Africa. Report to the African American Institute (New York, TheInstitute, 1967); B.F, Baron, 'Southern African student exiles in the United States', Journal of ModernAfrican Studies (1972), X,i, 73-91; U.S. Congress: Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommitteeto Investigate Problems Connected with Refugees and Escapees, African Refugee Problems. Hearingsbefore Subcommittee to Investigate Problems Connected with Refugees and Escapees of U.S. SenateCommittee on the Judiciary, 88th Congress (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965);S.D. KIetzien,,4 Current Assessment of the Southern African Scholarship Program. Report Submittedto the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State (Washington, U.S.Government Printing Office, 1972); F.M. Madzongwe, 'The Southern African Student Program, 1961Š71: An Analysis of a Program to Train Leaders for Southern Africa' (Worcester MA, Clark Univ.,unpubl. Ed.D. thesis, 1973)."Kletzien, A Current Assessment of the Southern African Student Program, 1.148 AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES FOR AFRICAN STUDENTSreasons for its creation, which were predominantly political. To begin with, unlikeASPAU, which was sponsored by AID, SASP was sponsored by the Departmentof State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, with the support of such topgovernment officials as Ambassador Averiil Harriman and Assistant Secretary ofState for African Affairs, G. Mennen Williams.Two political factors were instrumental in the creation of SASP. First, owingto political oppression and denial of educational opportunities in their owncountries, thousands of young Africans sought refuge in such neighbouringcountries as Zambia and Tanzania. Second, some of those Africans who had fledfor political reasons and who were active members of liberation movements weresearching for opportunities for military training abroad. These two factors set thestage for the Southern African version of the 'scholarship invasion'.Here were thousands of young Africans in search of either educational ormilitary training, anywhere abroad. Indeed, both Western and non-Westernpowers found this a good opportunity to extend their influence into those nationswhich, according to their assessment, were bound to gain majority rule in a decadeor so. Such powers as the Soviet Union offered scholarships for both academic andmilitary training. And the United States Government recognized that thesescholarship programmes of the non-Western powers posed a real threat to theAmerican national interest," and also that a sizeable number of the members ofAfrican liberation movements were receiving offers of military training fromcountries with which she did not enjoy cordial trade and diplomatic relations.34Thus it can be asserted that the American offer of assistance to the African refugeeswas more in response to the Communist interest in Southern Africa than togenuine African problems in the area. This assertion can be substantiated byexamining statements by some government officials.At a Senate sub-committee hearing on African Refugee Problems in 1965,G. Mennen Williams pointed out that more than 700 refugees (from SouthernAfrican countries) had gone to Communist countries for study and training. In thesame hearing he stated that since the creation of SASP, for every three refugees thatgo to Communist countries, one goes to the West. He saw SASP as 'an attractivealternative to study in Communist countries' designed to prepare participants tomake a responsible and constructive contribution to the development of Africa, andto provide intelligent and democratic leadership for the the people.35The political nature of the programme becomes more pronounced when onenotes the American dual role of supporting and training young Africans for theeventual take-over of nations under White rule on one hand and indirectlysupporting the colonialist activities of fellow NATO members such as Portugal and33 M. McAnnaly, 'The plight of student exiles in the U.S. k.\ Africa Today (1970), XVII, iii, 4. Itis interesting to note that the U.S. Government provided funds through AAI to build two schools forrefugees in Zambia and Tanzania.54 Ibid."Quoted in U.S. Congress, African Refugee Problems, 34.N. T. CHIDEYA149Britain, and promoting U.S. investment in South Africa and Rhodesia (as it thenwas) on the other. Thus it can also be argued that S ASP was created to ensure thatthe American interests in Southern Africa would remain in 'responsible hands'even after the 'departure' of White rale.Student selection The selection procedure for the SASP is not very clear fromthe records that are available,36 All we know is that whereas in ASPAU bi-nationalcommittees were set up to select students, the selection of SASP candidates wasconducted by officers of the U.S. Embassies or Consulates, in the countries ofrefuge of candidates, through the use of aptitude tests. Academic qualificationswere not a major requirement, though most of the applicants from South Africa andRhodesia had completed their high school education." Some of the students fromthe Portuguese colonies had hardly completed their high school education.Among the selection criteria were: the student's intellectual maturity, hisTable IIICOUNTRIES OF ORIGIN OF SASP PARTICIPANTS1961-72CountryRhodesiaSouth AfricaMogambiqueAngolaNamibiaBotswana xLesotho ISwaziland J* OtherTOTALNo. ofStudents176936862404040519*from Equatorial Guinea 8, Zambia 7, Sudan 7, Tanzania 5, Somalia 4, Malawi 3,Ghana 2, and 1 each from Kenya, Rwanda-Burundi and Guinea-Bissau.Source? S.D. Kletzien, A Current Assessment of the Southern African ScholarshipProgram. Report Submitted to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S.Department of State (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972), 2.36 It is interesting to note the deletion of some remarks made by the Assistant Secretary of State forAfrican Affairs, G. Mennen Williams, at the hearings on African Refugee Problems concerning theselection procedures of SASP students, on security grounds. This raises suspicion about the politicalnature of the programme.Ł" Kletzien, A Current Assessment of the Southern African Student Program, 3.150 AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES FOR AFRICAN STUDENTSapparent ability to benefit from further study, his character, his motivation to servehis country in a responsible manner, his psychological stability and especially hisleadership potential.38 Table III shows the numbers of SASP students by country,the largest number of students coming from Rhodesia and South Africa.Student orientation and placement Upon selection, the Bureau of Educationaland Cultural Affairs through a contract with AAI assumed responsibility for allcosts, for student travel from Africa to the United States, for programmeadministration and for student support.Nearly all SASP students were sent to one of the two Department of State-sponsored African Student Centers, located at the University of Rochester andLincoln University, for orientation. The role of the Centers was to receivescholarship students at any time of the year and to prepare them for placement inregular academic programmes at American universities and colleges. Among theservices provided by the centres were:a) Testing upon arrival,b) Intensive English-language training, especially for studentsfrom Portuguese colonies.c) Special lectures and orientation programmes concerningpolitics, the educational system and social habits in the UnitedStates.d) Remedial course-work to fill gaps in the students' secondaryschool backgrounds (other students started taking regularcourses).e) Periodic evaluation of the students' progress, the reporting ofthis progress to the Department of State and the assisting ofthe AAI in its efforts to place qualified students in planneddegree programmes.39These students stayed at the centres for a period ranging from one semester to foursemesters after which time they were placed in other universities.Programmes of study As in ASPAU, SASP pursued any field of study whichsuited the individual interests of students. Most of the students pursued majors inthe humanities and social sciences. But it would be naive to suggest that SASPshould have pursued fields in the sciences because the selection process was basedmore on political considerations than on academic ability or national developmentconsiderations.1966).? U.S. Congress, African Students and Study Programs in the United States, 146.' A. Assum, 'A Memo to African Center Students' (Rochester MN, Univ. of Rochester, mimeo,N. T, CHIDEYA151Repatriation I have noted that SASP was created to prepare for the eventualtake-over of governments in Southern Africa by the African majority, within thedecade of the 1960s. The fact that this did not happen as anticipated, and the factthat most of these students were refugees (except for some Rhodesian students andthose from the former British High Commission territories), presented problemsnot only to the students themselves, but also to the AAI and the Department ofState. These students could either choose to stay in the United States or go to someother African country. It was often difficult to go to other African countries, sincethose countries had their own graduates seeking employment. Besides, most SASPstudents lacked the critically needed skills. To illustrate the magnitude of thisproblem, by the end of 1968 over one-third of the 188 students who had completedtheir courses had returned to Africa, and subsequently only 16 per cent of some 200students who completed their studies after 1968 had returned to Africa.40 By 1972only 25 per cent (mostly Rhodesians) had returned home. Thus a large percentageof SASP students remained in the United States, either pursuing further studies orseeking permanent residence status,CRITICAL DISCUSSION OF SASPA programme created in response to the Communist scholarship programmes forSouthern Africans, SASP, unlike the AID programmes, revealed the double sharp-edged American policy on Southern Africa, While on one hand expressing the needto prepare for 'impending majority rule' in the area, the United States failed toencourage the minority regimes in the area to concede to African rule. This raisesthe question of why the programme was created at all. Perhaps it was created toprepare manpower (as a centre in the 'periphery')41 which would guarantee andsafeguard the American national interests in the area in the event that African rulebecame a reality.I have noted the kinds of students who were in the programme. Largely self-selected, and having left their home countries because of political oppression orlack of educational opportunities, they desired to achieve for their own countrieswhat those countries to the north had achieved for themselves, namely, nationalindependence. But Baron points out that the experiences of these students overseasserved more to pacify them than to encourage them to pursue their former objectiveof liberating their own countries:most scholarships designed to educate Southern Africans abroad mayhave indirectly served to weaken the nationalist movement ... Bydrawing off some of the best-educated and most ambitious of this middle40Kletzien, A Current Assessment of the Southern African Student Program, 3, 8.41 For a fuller discussion of the centre-periphery- framework, see J. Galfung, 'A structural theoryof imperialism". The.African Review (1972), I, iv, 92-138; N.T, Chideya, 'African higher education andacademic neocolonialism', in F.M. Orkin and S.E. Welz (eds). Society in Southern Africa 1975-78(Johannesburg, Association for Sociology in Southern Africa, 1979), 1-20.152 AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES FOR AFRICAN STUDENTSclass and by providing them with alternative routes to the reduction oftheir frustrations and grievances, foreign educational programmes mayhave helped perpetuate the status quo in Southern Africa. For anindividual to become a committed participant in radical or revolutionarypolitics, he must perceive that such a course is the most likely to fulfil hismost salient needs. If these can be satisfied by non-political activities,which offer similar rewards at considerably less risk, these quieteralternatives are likely to be chosen,42That the programme provided a good opportunity for the Southern Africans to get acollege education is a fact. But our concern here is that it also effectively influencedthem in a direction which weakened their earlier desires to work for the liberation oftheir respective countries, in which case it may be asserted that SASP was a neo-colonial tool.CONCLUSIONThe American contribution to African higher education through the sponsorship ofscholarship programmes was significant in several ways. The programmes werecreated in the 1960s when the existing institutions in Africa were not in a position totrain urgently needed skilled manpower in numbers sufficient to replace expatriatesand to realize the declared goals of rapid development. The university collegeswhich were created by the colonial powers did not have the capacity or the facilitiesto meet the demands for manpower created by the newly acquired politicalindependence. Indeed, they were also limited by the elitist bias built into theircurriculum. Thus, by sponsoring the studies of African students in the UnitedStates, the American Government contributed to the solution of the problem oflack of skilled manpower. Such programmes placed the African nations in acomparatively better position to have their manpower trained elsewhere inrelatively large numbers. Additionally, these scholarship recipients were exposedto a system of higher education which was utility-orientated, a system which tookthe view that higher education should serve the needs of society. They attended awide variety of universities and colleges including those of the Ivy League, somemajor state universities and some lesser-known colleges. And they took up studiesin a wide variety of areas including the applied sciences and business administra-tion. Such an exposure to scientific studies and practices in a technologicallyadvanced nation constituted a positive American contribution. But such acontribution was clouded by the fact that the educational aid was part of a foreignaid strategy aimed at international manipulation.I have portrayed the scholarship programmes which began in the early 1960sas instruments of the Cold War, in which the United States and the Soviet Unionvied for influence on the African continent. This competition for influence was notBaron, 'Southern African student exiles in the United States', 91.N, T. CHIDEYA153limited only to those countries which were about to gain independence but wasextended to include the White-ruled countries of Southern Africa.The United States created a variety of programmes, including nearly 5,000students at a cost of US$48.3 million. This contribution is significant given the factthat the ASPAU, AFGRAD and SASP programmes entailed bringing students tothe United States. Studying abroad did not only involve training in substantiveskills, but also involved the inculcation of new values and attitudes and theintellectual socialization of the scholarship recipients. Through extended staysabroad, these students were inevitably affected by the environment in which theyspent this time. Indeed, it was understood by the creators of these programmes thatthis would happen, that the African students who were brought to the United Stateswould come to understand and appreciate the American way of life and would, onreturning to their home countries, help counteract whatever Communist influencesthere were. That, in essence, was part of the ideology of American educational aid.The scholarship programmes raised another problem, that of repatriation.Even if we were to accept the proclaimed objective of providing skilled manpowerto the new nations of Africa, such repatriation rates as 36 per cent for ASPAU, 64per cent for AFGRAD and 25 per cent for SASP raise the question of why thesponsors could not have required the immediate return of those African scholarshiprecipients who had completed their studies. Such a step would indeed have beenconsistent with the goal of providing skilled manpower.