The elite formation in Sub-Saharan countries is no longer as dependent on the public and private in-country universities as the main and nearly exclusive inroad into the (power-) elites, as it used to be in times when universities were the main provider of knowledge. For one, police, military and political academies open access to the elites in societies where these forces have a strong influence on politics. External actors of different types and origins strive for influence on the production and transmission of scientific knowledge. On the other hand the third great transformation of knowledge production and transmission (from rhapsodic to writing – Plato; the printing press – Gutenberg; the internet) changes access to information and knowledge and allows other actors to partake in the global fight for attention of the minds. So the context of trying to influence African elites is changing fast. The “historical ties” of the colonial powers to their former colonies – understandably less celebrated by the ex-colonies than by the ex-metropolises – are getting much weaker as the “development cooperation” has morphed into containment strategies. Several crises have hit some of the metropolises and reduced their financial and economic power to fund their cooperation in scientific education. This trend is partly compensated by the economic success of some parts of African elites that allow them to pay for their higher education in international universities.

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