This chapter critically examines the evolving landscape of higher education (HE) on the African continent, particularly the shifting nature of actors involved in its provision and governance. Framed within a historical lens, it interrogates the enduring hegemony of the Eurocentric university model, its influence across global higher education systems and its colonial infusion on the African continent. The chapter further engages with pressing concerns such as diversity and inclusion, the massification of higher education, elitism, and the rise of the decolonial turn. These aspects have notably become prominent in postcolonial contexts. While introducing the South African experience, the chapter situates contemporary debates within the historical developments of the country’s higher education set-up. It foregrounds contemporary critical moments, such as the #MustFall movements and the institutional disruptions precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, to ask: How can these historical and contemporary changes inform the re-imagination of a more equitable and decolonised future for higher education?