African Union Commission Workshop on Establishment of a

African Union Commission Workshop on Establishment of a Continental Accreditation Agency for Higher Education in Africa 10 – 11 April 2013, Addis Ababa The Overall Landscape of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Africa 1 Dr. Yohannes Woldetensae Senior Education Expert Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology African Union Commission

African Union Commission What do we mean by Quality Assurance? l Quality Assurance is a systematic, structured and continuous attention to quality l The purpose of a QA system is to ensure that educational activities are of high quality and are developing toward further improvements Quality Assurance is internal and external l 2 Internal QA Policies and mechanisms implemented by an institution to ensure its own quality l External QA Actions of an external body

African Union Commission Link between Quality Assurance and Accreditation l Accreditation is one part of External QA l Accreditation is a useful mechanism for assuring quality of HEIs as a formal recognition of the fulfillment of agreed standards by external body l Accreditation comprise a multi-step process - Self-evaluation submitted by the Institution undergoing accreditation - External assessment by independent experts 3 - Accreditation decision by an authorized body

African Union Commission Link between Quality Assurance and Accreditation l Both Accreditation and QA processes are important for improving Quality in African HEIs l Effective Accreditation processes depends upon how well HEIs manage their internal QA systems Quality Assurance Improvement Accreditation Quality Control l 4 The development of African Quality Assurance Framework is a reinforcement for a Continental Accreditation Mechanism

African Union Commission Why the need for Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Africa? l l Increasing Mobility, Globalization and the Cross– Border Recognition of Qualifications l Rising private interests in higher education l The Challenge of the New Modes of Delivery l Expansion in Enrolments l 5 Demand for efficiency and competitiveness Demand for Quality and Relevance of Education l The Challenge of Brain Drain Retention

African Union Commission Challenges to the Quality of Higher Education in Africa l l Inadequate facilities and infrastructures l Shortage of qualified staff and heavy workloads l Outdated teaching methods, rely on lectures l Weakening of research and publishing activities l Mismatch between graduate output & employment l 6 High increase in enrollment Low level of quality management system and limited capacity of governance & leadership

African Union Commission Challenges to the Quality of Higher Education in Africa l l In some countries, quality monitoring and accreditation is employed only in Private HEIs l Many HEIs are facing challenges that are affecting their quality – Enrolment expansion l Problems of comparability (credit transfer) l 7 Many countries are yet to establish regulatory agencies for QA and Accreditation Many initiatives in promoting QA in Africa but they are disparate & uncoordinated, with little collaboration among regions & key organisations

African Union Commission Quality Assurance in African Higher Education Institutions l l Although many institutions claim to pay attention to quality issues, only few actually have in place dedicated units that can monitor performance and advise management on a regular basis l 8 Use of external examiners, self-evaluation and academic audits are among good QA processes in African HEIs QA needs be part of institution’s strategic plan l 5 institutional evaluations were conducted within Europe-Africa Quality Connect project

African Union Commission QA and Accreditation at National Levels l l Botswana, Burundi, Cameroun, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe l 9 Only 21 countries have established structured national QA mechanisms, the majority having been established within the last 10 years Activities differ, ranging from simple licensing of institutions to program accreditation

African Union Commission QA and Accreditation at National Levels l l National QA agencies also lack trained staff and capacity for implementing evaluation process l 10 Many of the QA Agencies lack the capacity needed to implement their mandates effectively capacity building is crucial Several countries changed their laws to make accreditation of public institutions mandatory as it has been limited only to private institutions l Accreditation for selected programs is carried out by the professional bodies in some countries

African Union Commission QA and Accreditation at National Levels l l The standards being applied by national QA agencies are input-based with little attention being paid to process, outputs and outcomes l Mainly to ensure minimum input standards are being met (physical facilities, learning resources, adequacy of teaching staff, and curriculum) l 11 There is convergence in methodology across countries institutional audits, institutional accreditation, and program accreditation Lack of experience in monitoring Open Distance Learning and Cross Boarder Higher Education

African Union Commission Regional Collaborations in Quality Assurance l l CAMES is carrying out several activities to support QA development in 19 Francophone countries (Accreditation, LMD Reform) l The Association of Arab Universities (AAr. U) sets up QA & Accreditation Council (QAAC) to assist its members institutions in QA l 12 The need for regional collaboration in QA is progressively being recognized The Arab Network for QA in HE (ANQAHE) is established to assist in creation of QA agencies & develop standards

African Union Commission Regional Collaborations in Quality Assurance l l The SADC Regional Qualification Framework include guidelines which set minimum standards for quality assurance in the SADC region l 13 Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) embarks on promoting QA systems in public & private HEIs in 5 East African countries The Higher Education Quality Management Initiative for Southern Africa (HEQMISA) supports the development of QA and promotes regional cooperation with universities in the SADC region SARUA

African Union Commission African Quality Assurance Framework l l Africa to be under one umbrella in QA in higher education in terms of minimum standards l Situation analysis of quality assurance practices in different countries and sub-regions in Africa l 14 The Goal is to catalyse improvement in quality in higher education in Africa Establish regional benchmarks and minimum standards Develop African QA framework

African Union Commission African QA Peer Review Mechanism l l To highlight strengths and weaknesses of quality assurance agencies for the purpose of early remediation of deficiencies l To identify best practices in quality assurance that can be modelled continental wide l 15 To share experiences on structures, functions, management, legal frameworks To promote partnerships and collaboration among quality assurance agencies in Africa

African Union Commission QA Initiatives at Continental Level l l African Quality Assurance Network (Afri. QAN) was constituted in 2009 to foster collaboration and linkages among QA bodies within Africa l Standards and quality assurance mechanisms for ODL are developed by ACDE-QAAA l 16 The Association of African Universities (AAU) has initiated several QA activities The AU Commission initiated the establishment of a Continental Accreditation Agency for HE

African Union Commission AU Policy Framework Second Decade of Education for Africa l Gender and culture l l Education management information systems Technical-vocational education & training l Curriculum development, and teaching & learning materials l Quality management l Early Childhood Development l l 17 Teacher development Higher education

African Union Commission Mandate l l Contributing to development of revitalized, quality, relevant, harmonized education systems through intra African networking l 18 Spearheading the development & harmonization of education policies and programmes on the continent, towards achievement of the AU vision of prosperity, peace and integration Facilitate the contribution of education and research to African renaissance & empowerment of its people to generate Africa-led solutions

African Union Commission Political Decisions l l Recommendations from Conference of Ministers of Education of African Union (COMEDAF) l 19 Decisions of AU Summits of Heads of States and Governments (2 nd Decade of Education 2006 -15) The AU Executive Council decision of January 2012 on the establishment of the PAU requested the AUC to develop an African Accreditation Agency for higher education in collaboration with relevant stakeholders

African Union Commission Link with the Pan African University l l One major requirement for the PAU is ensuring excellence through internal quality assurance mechanisms and external accreditation l 20 The establishment of a Continental Accreditation Agency is vital to guarantee high quality of education provision in the Pan African University and to ensure its international recognition But institutions that form the PAU are located in several different countries. Currently, there is no continental mechanism for accreditation

African Union Commission African Quality Rating Mechanism (AQRM) l l The AQRM was developed through extensive dialogue with the African HE community l It was adopted by the COMEDAF III in 2007 l Pilot Self-Rating of AQRM was conducted in 2010 and 32 institutions from 11 countries participated l 21 In its endeavor to contribute to QA, the AUC spearheaded the development of AQRM Full-scale of AQRM will be implemented l African HEIs should take ownership of AQRM and use it as one means for quality improvement

African Union Commission Concluding Remarks l l Continental Mechanism From diversity to harmonisation while maintaining institutional and national identities and autonomy l 22 African countries and universities need to work to improve the quality of their educational programs and to establish coherent systems of equivalence and accreditation Ensuring quality of higher education is crucial to promote African integration through mutual recognition of qualifications and mobility of students and academics THANK YOU