Evaluates 3 African higher education programs sponsored by USAID – designed to assist African nations in meeting their needs for trained high and middle-level manpower. These are: African Scholarship Program of American Universities (ASPAU), African Graduate Scholarship Program (AFGRAD), and Inter-African University Scholarship Program (INTERAF). Evaluation is based on sample of program entrants thru 1971. In general, the programs contributed to achieving their purpose. There is, however, a demand for post-secondary, technical, non-degree training that is not well-addressed by existing African or donor programs. Only 35.7% of the ASPAU participants repatriated. The undergraduates were young, impressionable, and many became “Americanized”. The repatriated ASPAU graduate frequently has not been well-integrated back into African society. For AFGRAD, repatriation (83.3%) and continued residence in Africa has not been a problem. For both ASPAU and AFGRAD, scholars remain outside Africa due to greater availability of jobs and higher salaries. Marriage to foreign nationals does not appear to be a primary factor associated with the decision to live outside Africa. Because INTERAF scholars do not leave Africa and university tuition is lower, the INTERAF program is the most cost-effective of the three. AID’s basic costs of getting scholars into high priority development jobs are: ASPAU $52,420; AFGRAD $29,518; INTERAF $14,432. Returned participants lack practical training. Scholars need applied work in lieu of or along with theoretical training. AFGRAD should be limited to short-term (1-2 year) skills acquisition including work study experience. AFGRAD Scholars should be required to return to their home countries and future candidates should not be accepted from countries to which scholars are not returned. In general, USAID should concentrate on non-degree programs and ensure that educational priorities are relevant to development needs as perceived by African governments rather than African and US universities. Includes bibliography citing regional and country-specific papers dealing with higher education, manpower needs, and unemployment.
