The Learning Academic –Selected African Autobiographies

Abstract

Continual learning in any career guarantees a better understanding of the career, thus enhancing an individual's efficiency and effectiveness. This appears to be the motive behind lifelong learning and subsequently the "Learning academic", which has become a recurrent phenomenon in the African higher education space (AHES). Academics are encouraged to embrace continual learning as they perform their mandate of teaching, research, and community service. It is argued that this holds the future for academics who want to set themselves apart as exceptional learners and teachers. This desk review with complimentary interviews unveils the features and status of learning academics in Africa to launch the pointers that would establish one as a learning academic. Anchored on Maslow's Theory of Needs suggests that learning academics want to know more, want to be exceptional, make efforts to have resources to embark on their quest for knowledge, work with other generations of academics, and can endure academic pressure.