The Resource Curse and Tertiary Education Sector in Angola

Abstract

Resource Curse is a much-debated phenomenon that affects countries with natural resources wealth. Considering the contributions of past studies and accepting that Angola exhibits the malady, the present research seeks to understand how the problem had impacted the country’s higher education. The theoretical framework sought to understand the Resource Curse theory and its impacts on Education as well the background for the selection of study variables. Given the limitation of existing literature concerning tertiary education, a new conceptual framework was adopted to study the interconnection between variables. Similarly to most Resource Curse studies, a qualitative research method was embraced and data collection was done in two phases, sourcing primary data in the form of interviews and secondary data in form of documental analysis.

The study concludes that the Resource Curse had a negative effect on tertiary education, in which the association between Resource Curse and education variables resulted in four main clusters: colonialism, civil war and institutions, weak governance and weak economy, attesting that these dimensions had impacted the higher education quality. Evidence from the results show that in the period under study (2002-2019) weak governance played a crucial role in perpetuating the deleterious effect of the previous periods by widening the gap between those with and without access to socioeconomic opportunities and welfare, including educational prospects. Strong institutions, political will and better investments are required to meet the needs of the underfunded and neglected education system and boost the quality of the education being provided if economic development is to be achieved