Full Description
Open and distance learning is growing rapidly worldwide, with many African ODeL institutions serving over 300,000 students at the forefront. While this model aims to expand flexible access to education, it is increasingly driven by neoliberal, capitalist, and competitive agendas rather than epistemic, social justice projects, or even the broader public good. Consequently, both academics' and students' experiences are marred by significant anxiety. Academics face heavy workloads, rigid evaluations, and silenced voices, leaving no space for creativity or critical reflection. Students encounter standardisation, transactional learning, and no meaningful role in shaping curricula. Crucially, decolonisation is ignored within this neoliberal framework. Rather than centring local knowledge, contextual relevance, or transformative pedagogies, ODeL institutions in the Global South often mimic international standards and prioritise market-driven efficiency. This book highlights how important the decolonial project is — calling for epistemic justice, Africanisation, and contextual responsiveness — this tends to be sidelined. Neoliberalism thus reinforces Western-centric models, deepens epistemic exclusion, and overlooks the very transformations needed to make ODeL truly equitable, relevant, and liberating for diverse student populations. This ought to be an imperative for the Global South.
