HIGHER EDUCATION TRAJECTORY IN CAPE VERDE: A JOURNEY IN THREE PHASES (1979-2022)

Abstract

This text aims to discuss the trajectory of higher education in Cape Verde, an African archipelago that, until 1975, was a portuguese colony. Bearing in mind that during colonization there were no conditions or stimulus for a takeoff of endogenous higher education, given the high level of illiteracy of the population, only after independence did this level of education begin to be developed in the country. Although, initially, very focused on polytechnic education, only from the 2000s, universities began to exist in the country. Based on a methodology involving documentary research, informal conversations and visits to universities in Cape Verde, during field research in that country, in the year 2022, it was possible to understand that the trajectory of Cape Verdean higher education took place in three phases, which I called the embryonic phase (1979-1990), institutional phase (1990-2000) and university phase (2000 to the present day). These steps, which, at the same time that they are diferente are also connected, were thus defined taking into account the political context of each moment, the direction that different governments gave to higher education, in addition to the nature of the courses that were being offered at any time.