Senegal: 34 private higher education institutions declared unrecognized by the State

The Senegalese Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation has made public a list of 34 private institutions and regional branches that are not authorized to provide training from the bachelor's to the doctoral level. The list, signed by the Director General of Higher Education, Professor Mamadou Sidibé, takes effect on October 1, 2026, and was reported on October 3, 2026, by the daily newspaper Le Soleil.

The stated objective of the ministry is to protect students against unrecognized programs and to improve the quality of higher education. Simply put, a degree issued by one of these structures has no value in the eyes of the Senegalese state.

The cited structures

Among the institutions named are Sup-management intelligentsia (Smi) and the Ziguinchor Polytechnic Institute (Zip) in Ziguinchor; the Higher School of Administration and Management (Esag) in Saint-Louis; the Institute of Management of Sub-Saharan Africa (Imas), the Higher School of Logistics and Transport (Eslot), and the African Private Institute of Petroleum Trades (Ipamep) in Dakar; as well as the Modern Institute (Im) in Mbour. Two centers offering doctoral-level training in Dakar are also targeted, as are several regional branches of the Higher Institute of Entrepreneurship and Management (Iseg).

A private market that has become essential

In Senegal, as in a large part of the continent, private higher education has absorbed the demographic pressure that saturated public universities can no longer contain. Families invest years of savings in programs whose official recognition is not always verifiable at the time of enrollment. Publishing a blacklist is therefore as much an act of regulation as it is an admission: the oversight occurred after thousands of young people had already enrolled.

The decision raises an immediate question that the ministerial document does not publicly answer: what will happen to the students currently enrolled in these structures, and through what procedures can they be redirected to recognized institutions? The right to education does not end with the administrative closure of a school; it is measured by the state's ability not to leave an entire cohort without a valid degree.

The ministry indicates that it intends to continue this cleanup effort. For candidates for the next academic year, verifying an institution's authorization with the Directorate General of Higher Education beforehand is becoming the first step to take.