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 MohamedbhaiFormer 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

of 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

on 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)

of 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