Regional and Continental Quality Assurance Initiatives: An African - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

2020 CHEA International Quality Group Annual Meeting 29-30 January 2020, Washington DC Higher Education, Quality Assurance and Growing Regionalization Trends

Regional and Continental Quality Assurance Initiatives: An African Perspective

Goolam Mohamedbhai

Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Mauritius Former Secretary-General, Association of African Universities

Why Poor Quality of HE in Africa?

 Institutional massification – far greater student enrolment

than carrying capacity of institutions

 Decreasing quality of output from secondary schools  Increase in funds to public HEIs not commensurate with

enrolment

 Shortage of faculty, especially well-qualified ones  Poor research output  Lack of relevance of programmes – poor linkages with

productive sector and community

 Large number of private & CBHE institutions – many of

dubious quality

 Poor governance & efficiency in management of HEIs

Evidence of Poor Quality

 Overcrowded lecture rooms, crumbling infrastructure, lack of labs

& equipment

 Large drop-out and failure rates in degree courses  Poorly trained graduates, e.g. 2014 survey of employers in 5 East

African countries found 51-62% of graduates ‘half-baked’

 Increasing unemployment of graduates, e.g. 2011 survey of 1,000

graduates in South Africa showed 30% of them unemployed

 Non-accreditation of programs, e.g. in 2010 NUC of Nigeria

withdrew accreditation of academic depts. in over 20 Nigerian universities – lack of infrastructure and academic staff

 Non-recognition of professional quals e.g. in 2011 Engg Reg Board

• f Kenya refused recognition of engg degrees from 3 leading public

universities

Agenda for Improving Quality

 Control student enrolment & ensure success  Generate alternate sources of funding – cost-sharing  Upgrade qualifications of existing academic staff – both in

research (PhD) & Teaching & Learning (Pedagogical Training)

 Undertake more postgraduate training & research, especially in

S&T

 Have greater linkages with productive sectors & improve

employability of students

 Improve governance & efficiency in management of HEIs  Wider use of ICT in T&L, research, administration, data collection

& analysis, etc.

 Promote Quality Assurance within institutions (IQA) and

externally by creating QA agencies (EQA)

 Promote regional collaboration for sharing experiences/resources

National QA Initiatives

 End 20th century several HEIs e.g. U of Mauritius , St Mary’s Uni

College, Ethiopia, U of Dar es Salaam, introduced QA at institutional level through collaboration with European universities

 c. 2001: South Africa’s Council for Higher Education was first to

introduce national QA processes through its HEQC

 In several of African countries a QA unit/section under the

Commission or Council for HE undertakes this function (Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius, Ghana); in some countries Quality is assured by the Ministry responsible for HE

 A few countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania) have set up specific QA

agencies for Accreditation and/or Evaluation processes in HEIs

 However, just over half of 48 SSA countries have dedicated

national QA agencies & most of them face challenges in EQA

 Most HEIs have not been able to set up effective IQA system

Regional & Continental Africa (1/2)

Regional & Continental Africa (2/2)

AFRICAN UNION (AU) - Continent Regional Economic Communities (RECs) of African Union:

 Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) - North  Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – West  East African Community (EAC) – East  Southern African Development Community (SADC) – South  Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) – Centre

Linguistic Groupings

Arabic, English, French & Portuguese

Regional QA Initiatives (1/2)

 2003: HEQMISA, an initiative started in 2002 to promote QA in

Southern African HEIs with support from GIZ(GTZ); assistance provided to Malawi, Namibia, etc. Not much progress made

 2005-2014: IUCEA with support from DAAD & HRK embarked

• n promoting QA systems in public & private HEIs in 5 East

African countries:

• Handbook (4

Vols) produced

• Establishment of East African HE QA Network (EAQAN) in 2012

 2006: CAMES (African & Malagasy Council for Higher Education) starts

QA of programs in HEIs in its 19 Francophone member states

 2007: Arab Network for QA in HE (ANQAHE) created to

support QA agencies in the region. Works closely with Association of Arab Universities

Regional QA Initiatives (2/2)

 2013: DAAD and several African partner organisations,

launched EWAQAS (Enhancing West African QA Structures) in West & Central Africa:

• Francophone countries: training courses in EQA & IQA;

RAQUES - Alumni Network created

• Anglophone countries: training for IQA; WAAQAN - Alumni

Network created

 2014: Launch of Southern African QA Network (SAQAN)

• f national QA agencies & HEIs in SADC region. 4th

SAQAN conference held in Lesotho in Oct. 2018

 DAAD, IIEP/UNESCO & SAQAN to run blended learning

courses on EQA for QA agencies in SADC region in 2019 & 2020

Continental QA Initiatives (1/3)

 2006: ICQAHEA launched as African QA Forum, supported by

UNESCO, AUC, AAU, GUNI, ADEA, etc. Meets every year; 11th Conference in Oct. 2019 in Abuja, Nigeria

 2009: AfriQAN formally launched and hosted by AAU, for

capacity building of national QA agencies & HEIs. Initially supported by WB & UNESCO. Activities limited by lack of funds

 2010: African Quality Rating Mechanism (AQRM) for rating HEIs

launched by AUC; uses self-assessment against set standards + external evaluation; complements internal & external QA process; some 50+ HEIs continent-wide assessed by 2017

 2015: HAQAA (Harmonization of African QA & Accreditation)

launched by AU with EU funding & support from several African & European organisations under Joint Africa-EU Strategy. HAQAA to contribute towards creation of Pan African QA & Accreditation Framework (PAQAF)

Continental Tools under PAQAF (3/3)

 1. African Standards and Guidelines for Quality

Assurance (ASG-QA):

• Developed through collaboration between AU and EU and

several African & European organizations & associations between 2017 and 2018 under the HAQAA Initiative

• An overriding set of S&G that provide a baseline for

development of good QA systems & practices in HE in Africa

• Provides S&G for EQA, IQA & IQA of QA agencies
• Available in English, French, Arabic & Portuguese
• Pending endorsement by the African Union

 2. Continental Qualifications Framework – Pending

• development. Needs input from Regional QFs – not

developed yet in all regions

 3. African Quality Rating Mechanism (AQRM)

Continental Tools under PAQAF (3/3)

 4. Addis Convention for Recognition of

Qualifications – a revision of the Arusha Convention, developed, pending legal approval and ratification by many African states.

 5. African Credit Accumulation and

Transfer System – proposal initiated by the TUNING Africa initiative, pending further development.

 6. Continental Register for QA agencies and

quality assured higher education institutions - pending development Ultimately, it is proposed to create a Continental Accreditation Agency for oversight & implementation of above tools

Challenges & Way Forward (1/2)

 Over past 2 decades, significant progress made in addressing

QA in HE, regional cooperation playing an important role

 Two essentially independent approaches being used:

• Bottom up at regional level
• Top down at continental level

Harmonization of the 2 approaches must be ensured

 At HEI level, major handicaps are inadequate capacity for

internal reviews, too heavy teaching & administrative load of academic staff & lack of funds

 National QA agencies also lack trained staff, capacity for

evaluation of HEIs, and funds

 Private HE, especially for-profit, growing rapidly – difficult to

use traditional EQA approach for all private HEIs. They need special attention

Challenges & Way Forward (2/2)

 Lack of experience in Africa in applying Evaluation process to

ODL and CBHE – again increasing rapidly and have their own specificity [Use of OECD Guidelines for Quality Provision in CBHE]

 Very little work done on QA of graduate programs, in particular

• doctoral. PhD graduates increasing rapidly and require attention.

CHE of South Africa started EQA for PhDs in 2019 – needs to be followed up

 Sustainability of most QA Networks is difficult because of lack of

funds – funding through membership fees grossly insufficient; yet they have an important role to play

 The ASG-QA is a valuable tool and should be fully utilised

(adapted if necessary) by HEIs and QA agencies

 HAQAA initiative comes at an opportune time to coordinate and

harmonise QA activities and ensure ownership by African countries, associations, agencies and institutions

THANK YOU