The trend of teacher shortage is generally seen across all levels of education, but poor countries are particularly focusing their efforts in meeting the goal of universal primary education (UPE). According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), among the 208 countries that reported teacher data for 2009, 112 countries will have a shortfall and collectively need at least 2 million extra teachers between 2009 and 2015 to meet the UPE goal. More than half of these countries (1,115,000 or 55 per cent) are in sub-Saharan Africa (UIS, 2011). Given the situation at the initial level of education, further levels up to higher education face even greater challenges.