["European Journal of Education, Volume 61, Issue 3, September 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nOver the past 20 years, the cooperation between China and Africa in higher education has shifted from mainly providing scholarships to a broader partnership model. This model encompasses academic mobility, institutional collaboration, research networks, vocational education and digital transformation. Despite the rapid growth and increasing importance of these initiatives, understanding how they work, their impact on institutions, their sustainability implications, and their long‐term potential remains limited. This review brings together 39 pieces of evidence from English and Chinese academic literature, policy papers, institutional reports and collaborative frameworks. It critically looks at how higher education cooperation has developed under the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) from 2006 to the most recent 2024 framework. The review explores four connected areas: the growth and variety of FOCAC‐driven higher education initiatives, their effects on African higher education systems, the challenges to their sustainability, and ways for future cooperation. The review argues that the future success of China–Africa higher education cooperation depends on moving from a project‐based approach to fair partnerships built on mutual exchange, the involvement of African institutions and the creation of sustainable knowledge. By combining sources from different languages and regions, this review offers a clear framework for understanding the changing role of China–Africa higher education collaboration within the wider context of Global South internationalization.\n"]