Study title

The study adopted a mixed methods design, comprising a longitudinal study of student outcomes and a qualitative investigation of how institutions are able to encourage processes of pedagogical change. The quantitative data are made available here. The study used a quasi-experimental approach, involving naturally occurring cases of novel intervention. In order to assess the impact of these interventions on critical thinking, we compared these interventions to other cases which, as far as possible, differed only in the absence of such intervention (i.e. a prospective cohort design with comparison over time between intervention cases and matched controls). After the second assessment, gains in scores on the critical thinking assessment were compared, in order to investigate whether students enrolled in the ‘intervention’ faculties demonstrated more progress than students enrolled in faculties which had not attempted any pedagogical reform. Additional analysis of the quantitative results helped us to determine which pedagogical practices had the strongest impact on improvements in critical thinking ability and investigate the possibility of differential impact across students.New understanding of the ways in which higher education contributes to economic and human development has strengthened the justification for investment in higher education in lower-income contexts in recent years. This, in turn, has prompted a wave of reform and revitalisation efforts within African higher education systems. One of the primary assumptions motivating such reforms is that higher education encourages the ability to think critically about problems and to use evidence when making decisions. However, there is evidence to suggest that the assumption that students improve their critical thinking skills as a result of university study may not be valid in many African contexts. Concern about the capacity of graduates from African universities to demonstrate 'high skills', such as...