From coloniality to cognitive justice: Hegelian synthesis of ubuntu-centred academic promotion criteria in African higher education

Purpose This conceptual literature review employs a Hegelian dialectical framework to analyse the scholarly discourse on the tension between Eurocentric academic promotion criteria and ubuntu-centred alternatives within African higher education. Design/methodology/approach The review synthesizes literature through the structured logic of Hegelian dialectics, exploring how the thesis of colonial academic metrics confronts the antithesis of communal indigenous knowledge systems, and moving towards a synthesized proposal for transformative evaluation frameworks. A systematic search strategy was employed, resulting in a final corpus of 98 sources analysed through the moments of Understanding, Dialectical Reason and Speculative Reason. Findings The analysis demonstrates that ubuntu epistemology provides a coherent philosophical foundation for viable alternatives that honour collective wisdom, intergenerational knowledge transmission and community-engaged scholarship while maintaining academic rigor. Research limitations/implications The article concludes that transforming academic promotion constitutes a profound epistemological revolution aligned with the demands of the VUCA era and sustainable development imperatives. The proposed synthesis offers a pathway towards cognitive justice by institutionalising community-engaged scholarship, poly-vocal validation, oral and vernacular scholarship and collective capacity building as core academic values. Originality/value This review makes an original contribution by integrating Hegelian dialectical methodology with decolonial and ubuntu philosophy to systematically construct a concrete, institutional alternative for academic evaluation.