Educational Relations in Changing Regimes: The University of London and Its Overseas Colleges 1945–1970

Between 1945 and 1970 the University of London developed the Scheme of Special Relation to assist in establishing university colleges in parts of Africa and the West Indies. This article explores the principles of university study that members of the University of London considered important for students in decolonising nations, how the institution worked with overseas colleges to develop curriculum while maintaining quality and how the university – including its students – became increasingly involved in international politics as the process of decolonisation accelerated in the 1960s. The article analyses the successes and failures of the scheme, especially in the cases of the colleges which became the University of Khartoum, Sudan, and the University of Zimbabwe.