Chronic shortages of resources to run the state have been a feature of Mozambique since the colonial period. Even before the adoption of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) in the late 1980s, conditions were austere due to the effects of Portuguese colonialism, a decade of liberation struggle, prolonged civil war and policy mistakes following independence in 1975. Drawing from archival research and oral accounts, this article analyses the impact of the liberalization of higher education in Mozambique. It explores the strategies adopted by intellectuals and academics to navigate reduced state support and donor conditionalities accompanying austerity measures from the late 1980s. It also highlights the paradoxical effects of austerity measures on fundraising, intellectual production, and the expansion of educational institutions. Austerity measures brought about by SAPs have forced universities and faculty to reinvent themselves by commercializing and privatizing higher education and seeking external funding for research. At the same time, scholars are now intellectually freer but more dependent on donors’ research agendas. Finally, the introduction of privately owned higher education institutions and the marketization of public institutions have increased divisions between the elites and the majority of Mozambicans who cannot afford to pay the fees charged.

自殖民时期以来，莫桑比克长期缺乏管理国家的资源。甚至在 1980 年代后期采用结构调整计划 (SAPs) 之前，由于葡萄牙殖民主义的影响、十年的解放斗争、长期的内战和 1975 年独立后的政策失误，情况已经严峻。 来自档案研究和口头帐户，本文分析了莫桑比克高等教育自由化的影响。它探讨了知识分子和学者采取的策略，以应对 1980 年代后期伴随紧缩措施而减少的国家支持和捐助者的条件。它还强调了紧缩措施对筹款、智力生产和教育机构扩张的矛盾影响。SAP 带来的紧缩措施迫使大学和教师通过将高等教育商业化和私有化以及为研究寻求外部资金来重塑自我。与此同时，学者们现在在思想上更加自由，但更依赖于捐助者的研究议程。最后，私立高等教育机构的引入和公共机构的市场化加剧了精英与大多数负担不起学费的莫桑比克人之间的分歧。