Fr. Joseph Oduor Afulo, SJ is a Jesuit priest. He was born on April 27, 1962 in Kasau, Siaya County in Kenya. After completing his primary education at Barkanyango Primary School, he proceeded to St. Peter's Seminary, Mukumu for his secondary education and then pursued A-Level education at Cardinal Otunga High School. Fr. Afulo then proceeded to Kenyatta University where he obtained B.Ed. (Science) with Physics and Mathematics.
Fr. Afulo taught Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Kiswahili at Barkanyango Secondary School. After teaching Mathematics and Physics at Lwak Girls High School for some years, he joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Upon completing the Novitiate in Arusha he proceeded to Jñana Deepa Vidya Peeth, Pune-India for Philosophical studies where he obtained a Bachelor of Philosophy. He did regency at Loyola High School in Dar-es-Salaam where he taught Mathematics and was also in charge of sports and games. Fr. Afulo then proceeded to Hekima College, Nairobi for theological studies and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Theology through the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He later obtained a Licentiate in Theology at Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, California and a Ph.D. in Education Policy and Leadership from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in USA.
Fr. Afulo has been the principal of Hekima University College in Nairobi, and he is currently the Vice Chancellor of Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare, Zimbabwe. He has taught graduate students in the School of Education of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He has been the Formation Assistant (in charge of personnel planning and training) and Provincial Superior of the Eastern Africa Province of the Society of Jesus that covers Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan.
"This ambitious publication provides a comprehensive panorama of the evolution of higher education in East Africa, while at the same time weaving in an international reference framework that helps readers to understand the interplay of local influences and global forces in influencing the evolution of the East African higher education systems. The book shows us, in a comparative perspective, the many threads of their complex story, from the colonial era to the post-independence decades. It tells a tale of rapid quantitative expansion, institutional diversification with the growth of a sizeable private higher education sub-sector, careful efforts to put in place a strong quality assurance system, and investment in the development of a few leading research universities." Prof. Salmi