In this study a description of and explanation for the origin, development and meaning of the concept africanisation is given. It can be concluded that the concept africanisation is emotive and politically sensitive and together with related concepts such as African personality, Negritude, Afrocentrism, Ethiopianism, localisation and Black consciousness it forms an integrated part of the aspiration not only to gain and maintain political independence for African colonies and Africans, but also to secure this identity in the socio-economic and cultural fields. The views of various advocates/proponents of africanisation were analysed and based on this analysis a comparison between the earlier africanisation attempts in British West Africa and those in South Africa was drawn. After some implications of africanisation for South African universities were indicated, a number of future perspectives with regard to the africanisation of universities in South Africa were formulated.
