-Lulat's purpose is not to find ways of overcoming what he calls the current awful predicament of African universities. Rather, he wishes to correct the errors of other writers, particularly those whom he sees as Eurocentric. —Minerva Journal

-In this topically comprehensive and analytically dense work, Lulat....produces an important and timely work of over 600 pages, a work achieving an inclusive and critical perspective on the history of African higher education....[t]his is a well-researched and excellent work in the historical and actual locations of African higher education; it should be widely read and could become a primary reference for researchers, students, and others who are interested in this increasingly important area of study. —Comparative Education Review

-Lulat's work fills an important gap by providing the first comprehensive overview of the subject, beginning with Pharaonic Egypt and Axum in premodern Africa and continuing through to the early twenty-first century. Contained within this thick (529 pages of text) and expensive volume is a wealth of valuable information and analysis that will serve as a guide and reference for all future studies....[L]ulat deserves the highest praise for his meticulously researched, comprehensive survey of African higher education over five millennia and across the entire continent. —American Historical Review

-[O]nly the second full-length, unified, continent-wide historical survey of African higher education. His account differs from the other, Ashby (1996), by a longer temporal and wider geographical scope, by being critical rather than an apology for British colonial policies, and by placing the history of universities in Africa in a global context. —Reference & Research Book News