University Education: The Way to Fight Poverty in Africa

<ns3:p>Background This study, entitled “University education: the way to fight poverty in Africa,” aimed to analyze the effect of university education on poverty. The research highlights the need for Congo, in particular, and sub-Saharan Africa, in general, to invest massively in university education to hope for the economic and social development so proclaimed. Indeed, the university education of individuals in a country is a critical factor in poverty reduction (Samo, 2022, Li et al., 2024). However, in sub-Saharan Africa, there needs to be more space for university education, focusing rather on primary education policies (UNESCO, 1997). Methods Data used are those from the 2011 Congolese household survey. The paper uses the decomposition of Foster Greer and Thorbecke’s (1984) poverty intensity index to show the differences in poverty by level of education attained among individuals with a higher level of education. The Full information maximum likelihood method using the Conditional mixed process (CMP) was preferred because it considers the variables’ causality by avoiding the endogeneity bias (Roodman, 2011). Results A Lorenz curve analysis shows that more education does not mean less income inequality. A multivariate explanatory analysis also shows the net effects of university education on poverty. The results obtained showed that university education helps reduce poverty. Conclusions The final analysis allows us to realize the gap between the political discourse regarding the desire to escape underdevelopment and the actions undertaken to do so, at least in terms of education. The results of this research, which are quite clear and relevant to the meaning and direction of this poverty-university education relationship, give rise to avenues of questioning on public policy in financing higher education practiced today by these sub-Saharan African countries.</ns3:p>