Saidu Bangura & Donald Doherty: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 18 February 2026:
Fourah Bay College (FBC), celebrates today, February 18, 2026, one hundred and ninety-nine (199) years of existence as the first Western-modelled tertiary institution in West Africa.
Many Sierra Leonean academics, alumni and non-alumni of the University of Sierra Leone (USL), especially of Fourah Bay College (FBC), one of the constituent colleges of USL, are looking at the Bicentennial celebrations of Fourah Bay College from various perspectives.
In commemorating this important milestone of our Alma Mater’s existence, we attempt to address the following questions:
Where is FBC/USL today as a university? How does the university stand in the region? What has happened over these years, especially from 1961 to date, under an independent Sierra Leone?
What hopes are there that our age-old political parties and their respective governments have what it takes to revamp the university as a centre of excellence through teaching, research, knowledge production and extension, four key ingredients for solving longstanding development challenges the country faces through its public universities?
What does FBC/USL have to show in our almost 200 years of existence? In short, Quo Vadimus FBC/USL?
The University of Sierra Leone underwent restructuring in 2005, separating constituent colleges into distinct universities (e.g., Njala University, later Ernest Bai Koroma University). While this decentralisation aimed to improve governance, it also diluted the symbolic unity of the University of Sierra Leone.
In 2026, Fourah Bay College (FBC) approaches its 200th year of existence. Founded in 1827, it is not merely Sierra Leone’s oldest university; it is the oldest Western-style university in West Africa.
For generations, it stood as the intellectual lighthouse of the region—earning the proud title, “The Athens of West Africa”. But anniversaries are not only moments for celebration. They are moments for reckoning.
At 199, FBC stands at a crossroads. The question before us is simple yet profound: Quo Vadimus? Where are we going?
This question is simple in phrasing yet profound in its implications. For an institution once called the “Athens of West Africa”, the answer cannot be casual, accidental, or nostalgic. It must be deliberate. Its name once carried intellectual authority across the region.
Studying at Fourah Bay College meant joining an elite tradition of scholarship and leadership. That legacy still matters. But legacy alone does not secure relevance.
The University of Sierra Leone in general, and Fourah Bay College in particular, is at a crossroads: a well-storied past, a testing present, and an unknown future.
As it stands on the threshold of its bicentenary, observers say FBC faces three possible futures. It could remain largely a custodian of its illustrious past—a respected symbol but limited in influence. It could function primarily as a teaching institution, producing graduates but not shaping research or twenty-first century scalable innovation as it lags behind the digital age. Or it could deliberately reposition itself as a renewed centre of excellence in teaching, research, and knowledge production, and hence solving chronic challenges Sierra Leone faces through extension of scientific and development skills. The third path, many argue, is the only one worthy of a 199-year-old institution—a glorious legacy.
Few institutions in Africa can claim FBC’s historic stature. Long before many African nations gained independence, Fourah Bay College was already producing clergymen, jurists, civil servants, linguists, public administrators and scholars who would shape political and intellectual life across West Africa.
As part of the University of Sierra Leone, FBC became a crucible of African nationalism, theological scholarship, legal thought, and public administration. Its alumni populated governments, courts, schools, and churches from Freetown to Lagos in Nigeria, Banjul in The Gambia, and other major cities in Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea; cities and countries whose English Pidgin and Creole languages are traced to Krio and Sierra Leone English.
For much of the twentieth century, Fourah Bay College occupied a position of rare distinction in West Africa. Since its incorporated into the University of Sierra Leone, the institution has been widely regarded as the intellectual anchor of Anglophone West Africa.
In particular, between the 1960s and early 1970s, FBC stood comfortably alongside leading regional peers, including the University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, the University of Ghana, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, among many other leading African universities.
At that time, the comparison of Fourah Bay College to “the Oxford or Cambridge of West Africa” was not a mere rhetorical flourish. It reflected tangible academic influence. The college attracted students and faculty from across West Africa and beyond, serving as a training ground for clergy, jurists, civil servants, and political leaders. Its alumni network stretched across multiple African countries, and its intellectual culture shaped the evolution of higher education in the region. That was then.
Today, however, the regional landscape tells a markedly different story. The University of Sierra Leone rarely appears in African and World university rankings.
In its early decades, FBC set academic standards that influenced institutions across the continent. Affiliation with British universities in the 19th century strengthened its academic credibility, while its alumni network expanded across colonial and post-colonial West Africa.
However, the decades following independence in 1961 brought new challenges. Economic downturns in the 1980s, reduced public funding, political interference, and, later, the rebel war of the 1990s disrupted academic continuity and weakened infrastructure.
Like many institutions in fragile states, FBC struggled to maintain research output, retain faculty, and modernise facilities.
Nearly a quarter century after the end of the rebel war, recovery has been steady but uneven. Classrooms are fuller than ever, yet funding constraints persist. Dedicated lecturers remain, but brain drain continues to affect research capacity. Infrastructure improvements have begun, but modernisation remains incomplete
Where are we today?
Across nearly all contemporary indicators of higher education competitiveness, FBC now trails both its historic peers and several newer or reform-oriented institutions.
While universities in Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal have consolidated their reputations through research expansion and international partnerships, and emerging university systems such as Rwanda have leveraged reform to accelerate growth, Fourah Bay College has struggled to reposition itself.
Today, FBC remains symbolically powerful. Its name commands respect in the Sierra Leonean society. The prestige of being an “FBC graduate” still resonates in political and social circles. But institutions cannot live on symbolism alone. Institutionally, the college is widely perceived as struggling under the weight of multiple structural challenges:
Chronic underfunding – Public universities depend heavily on state subsidies. At FBC, funding has often been inconsistent and inadequate. Laboratories lack modern equipment. Libraries struggle with outdated materials. Research grants are scarce. Without sustained financial commitment, excellence remains aspirational.
Deteriorating infrastructure – From ICT systems to classroom technology, infrastructural gaps undermine modern pedagogy and digital scholarship. These are not superficial problems. They are structural.
Overstretched and underpaid faculty – This has led to brain drain, which has led to talented academics often leaving for institutions abroad where salaries, facilities, and research support are more competitive or for political appointments. Retaining high-level faculty is essential for intellectual leadership.
Weak research ecosystem – Research output remains limited due to insufficient funding, heavy teaching loads, and a lack of incentives. A university cannot contribute meaningfully to national development if it functions primarily as a teaching institution without a robust research capacity, and national problem-solving drive.
Politicised governance – University leadership appointments sometimes reflect political considerations rather than purely academic merit. When universities become extensions of political patronage networks, academic independence suffers. Centres of excellence thrive on autonomy, not interference.
Declining regional and global visibility – FBC now functions primarily as a mass undergraduate teaching institution. The production of new knowledge—the lifeblood of any serious university—is limited and often dependent on individual initiative rather than institutional strategy. The shift is subtle but significant: from a research-led university to a teaching-heavy degree factory.
Homebased and diaspora academics’ disconnect – Sierra Leone boasts of several top-notch academics around the globe, some of whom are alumni of FBC/USL and other universities in Sierra Leone.
Strong academic collaborative work between these two groups of academics through research and publication, and the building of research centres and postgraduate programmes (Masters and Doctoral Programmes) can benefit not only FBC/USL, but the country as a whole.
Apart from the above structural challenges, several dimensions illustrate the widening gap:
Research output and global visibility: Peer institutions have built structured research pipelines, increased publication output, and strengthened participation in international academic networks. FBC’s research presence remains comparatively limited.
Postgraduate and doctoral capacity: Regional competitors have invested heavily in master’s and PhD programmes, expanding supervision capacity and research training ecosystems. Fourah Bay College’s postgraduate depth remains modest.
International partnerships and mobility: Universities across West Africa have cultivated exchange agreements, joint research platforms, and donor-supported collaborations. FBC’s international footprint is comparatively narrow.
Innovation and technology transfer: The rise of incubation hubs, entrepreneurship centres, and technology parks has become central to university competitiveness. In this arena, FBC has minimal visibility.
While several West African institutions now appear in African and global rankings, Fourah Bay College is hardly visible in these systems, which increasingly shape perception and funding flows. The result is that FBC, once a regional reference point, is now more accurately described as nationally important but regionally peripheral.
The long decline: what happened?
Institutional decline rarely happens overnight. It unfolds gradually, often unnoticed, until the consequences become impossible to ignore. After Sierra Leone’s independence in 1961, FBC (later part of the University of Sierra Leone system) expanded in enrolment and academic offerings. It was still respected regionally, producing civil servants, lawyers, educators, and policymakers for Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
However, growing political interference and economic decline gradually weakened institutional autonomy. Several historical forces converged:
Political centralisation
Post-independence governments in Sierra Leone increasingly treated universities as extensions of state authority rather than autonomous intellectual communities. University governance structures became susceptible to political influence.
Economic crisis
The economic downturn of the 1980s and 1990s eroded public funding for higher education. Structural adjustment policies tightened budgets. Academic salaries stagnated. Brain drain accelerated.
The Rebel War (1991–2002
The war disrupted academic continuity, damaged infrastructure, and drove scholars abroad. Recovery has been uneven and incomplete.
Massification without investment
Enrolment expanded dramatically over the past decades. However, investment in laboratories, libraries, staff development, and student facilities did not keep pace. The result: overcrowded lecture halls and strained resources.
Erosion of Standards
A former Physics professor once warned, “standards are falling,” when he refused to yield to pressure to upgrade students’ grades. At the time, his concerns were dismissed as rigidity.
Today, his warning appears prophetic. Standards do not collapse in dramatic fashion; they erode quietly—through compromise. Grade inflation, inconsistent moderation, and administrative interference gradually undermine academic integrity. Now, the consequences are visible in graduate unemployment and employer dissatisfaction.
Regional comparison: The growing gap
While FBC has struggled, other West African universities have advanced. Institutions such as the University of Ibadan and the University of Ghana have:
Expanded postgraduate programmes; Increased international research collaborations; Attracted external research grants; Appeared in continental and global rankings; Developed strong publication cultures; Improved on homebased and diaspora academic collaboration.
FBC’s presence in global academic discourse has diminished. Doctoral output remains limited. Research publications are sporadic. International partnerships are modest. The intellectual centre of gravity has shifted elsewhere.
What do we have to show for 199 years of existence?
We must answer this question honestly. We have:
A powerful historical legacy
Distinguished alumni across generations at home and abroad
A symbolic foundation of Sierra Leone’s higher education system
We lack:
A sustainable research ecosystem
Strong industry-university linkages
Modernised infrastructure
Competitive faculty remuneration
Robust quality assurance mechanisms
The contrast between past glory and present fragility is difficult to ignore. Renewal would require a reversal of the current system. Educational analysts emphasise that transformation would demand more than anniversary celebrations. Key reforms would include strengthening institutional autonomy, ensuring merit-based leadership, increasing and stabilising research funding, improving digital infrastructure, and fostering partnerships with international universities and the Sierra Leonean diaspora.
“A modern university must drive national development,” said one academic commentator. “Teaching, research, and innovation are not luxuries — they are national necessities.”
In a global environment where universities are ranked by research productivity, innovation output, and international collaboration, FBC’s regional standing has shifted. Institutions in Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal now lead many continental metrics. Yet FBC’s historic brand and alumni influence remain powerful assets.
Can our political parties deliver a revival?
Every election cycle brings renewed promises about education reform. But university revitalisation requires more than rhetoric. It requires:
- Genuine autonomy: University councils and leadership must operate free from partisan pressure. Appointments should be merit-based, not politically expedient.
- Sustainable Funding Models: A national research council, competitive grant systems, and protected higher education budgets are essential.
- Faculty Development: Competitive salaries, funded doctoral training, sabbatical structures, and publication incentives must become institutional norms.
- Infrastructure renewal: Digital libraries, laboratory modernisation, campus rehabilitation, and improved student housing are not luxuries—they are prerequisites for academic excellence.
- Restoration of standards: External moderation systems, transparent grading policies, and academic accountability must be reinforced.
Without these structural reforms, promises of excellence will remain aspirational.
The road to our Bicentennial Year (1827 – 2027): survival or rebirth?
As FBC approaches its bicentennial, three possible futures emerge:
Administrative survival — Continue operating as a politically influenced, underfunded teaching institution.
Managed decline — Gradually lose prestige as newer universities fill the vacuum.
Strategic rebirth — Reclaim identity as a research-driven, policy-informing, regionally competitive institution.
The third path is difficult—but not impossible. And we have all the resources, human and otherwise, at home and abroad to ensure our strategic rebirth. Universities around the world have reinvented themselves through deliberate reform. But revival demands political will, institutional courage, and uncompromising academic standards.
Quo Vadimus, Fourah Bay College/University of Sierra Leone?
This is a national question, not just an institutional one.
The future of FBC is not merely a campus issue; it is a national development question. The future of Fourah Bay College is intertwined with Sierra Leone’s broader development ambitions.
Universities serve as training grounds for civil servants, laboratories for scientific advancement, and spaces for critical public discourse. If FBC thrives, it strengthens governance, policymaking, health systems, and economic innovation. If it stagnates, the country risks limiting its intellectual and institutional capacity.
No country develops sustainably without a strong university sector. Teaching produces graduates. Research produces solutions. Knowledge production drives innovation, informs policy, and strengthens governance.
If Sierra Leone is serious about economic transformation, democratic consolidation, and technological advancement, then revitalising Fourah Bay College and the other constituent colleges of the University of Sierra Leone must move from nostalgic rhetoric to national priority.
At 199, FBC stands before history. It can lean on memory—or build a future. It can celebrate its past—or reform its present. It can drift—or lead again. The answer to Quo Vadimus Fourah Bay College/USL? will determine whether, at 200, we celebrate an institution reborn—or commemorate one remembered.
The clock toward the bicentennial is ticking. The bicentenary in 2027 offers both a celebration and a reckoning. The milestone invites reflection not only on nearly two centuries of achievement but also on the responsibilities of the next century.
At 199, Fourah Bay College, and the other constituent colleges of the University of Sierra Leone stand at a crossroads between heritage and reinvention. Whether FBC/USL will live primarily on its reputation or rebuild itself as a competitive centre of excellence remains an open question.
For now, the question echoes across its historic campus: Quo Vadimus?
The answer, stakeholders will agree, depends not on history alone—but on vision, leadership, and sustained commitment in the years ahead.
Authors’ Note
We, Saidu Bangura (Cabo Verde) and Donald Doherty (UK), write to inform, challenge, and inspire, driven by our commitment to a better Sierra Leone. Our work is independent and is not affiliated with any political agenda.
Saidu Bangura (PhD, Sociolinguistics) & Donald Doherty (MSc., Development Studies)
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