Since the World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE) in 1998 in Paris, France, several initiatives have been undertaken to address the issue of accreditation, quality assurance and recognition of qualifications. These include; capacity building initiatives through the establishment of the UNESCO Global forum on international Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Recognition of Qualifications, the development of UNESCO/OECD guidelines on “Quality Provision in Cross-Boarder Higher Education” and the revision of regional conventions on recognition of qualifications. Most countries are far below the agreed enrolment rate of 40-50 per cent of the relevant population that is required to enable a country to perform effectively. In the sub - Saharan Africa, the enrolment rates are said to be less than 5%. The need for a massive increase in enrolment is imperative. These huge increments must be accompanied by the refocusing of accreditation and quality assurance mechanisms so as to address the innovative mode of open, distance and technology– mediated learning which has emerged in Africa and throughout the world.

In order to address some of the challenges facing the region and follow up on the previous initiatives, a regional Conference on Accreditation, Quality Assurance and Recognition of Qualification in Higher Education in Africa was held from 6-8 February at the Hilton Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. It was jointly organised by UNESCO Harare Cluster Office, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Africa (BREDA), UNESCO Office, Nairobi, Division of Higher Education UNESCO Paris and the National Universities Commission (NUC) of Nigeria.

The objectives of the conference were: to take stock of international, regional and national experiences in order to inform development of effective mechanisms for accreditation of institutions and programmes, quality assurance and recognition of higher education qualification in Africa; to promote the use of the UNESCO/OECD guidelines in Africa; to take stock of progress made in the process of revision of the regional conventions on recognition of qualifications; to review existing global and regional initiatives for capacity building in quality assurance, including those offered through cross-border higher education; and to map out the way forward regarding strengthening of mechanisms for accreditation, quality assurance and recognition of qualifications in Africa.
The conference was attended by 127 participants from 40 countries including representatives of Association of African Universities (AAU), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), World Bank, JICA, and European Foundation for Quality in E-learning.

Students in a Lecture Hall at CUEA.

The conference was organised around three sub-themes namely: Accreditation and Quality Assurance; Recognition of academic and professional qualifications; and Brain drain, brain gain and the use of the diasporas in quality assurance mechanisms.

In his opening remarks, Hon. Prof. George Saitoti, the then Minister of Education of observed that high quality human resource is critical to national development and the creation of global competitiveness. For this reason, quality education is not only necessary but critical to any nation’s ability to compete in the world market. For us in Africa, there is an urgency to put in place mechanisms that will enable us minimise marginalisation and underdevelopment. He observed that Africa continues to show low rates of enrolments in higher education, currently standing between 5% and 7% in Sub-Saharan Africa Member States. Efforts to expand access face serious challenges, including those relating to, financing, equity, quality and relevance. Other challenges include: a mis-match between skills acquired by university graduates and those demanded by the industry, an imbalance between the number of students studying sciences and those in arts-based courses, rigid admission criteria, and absence of modalities for credit transfers between universities and post-secondary institutions, as well as gender, and regional disparities, among others. He urged that we need to pay special attention to issues relating to transnational provision especially those that provide education and training through e-learning. Some of these providers are exploiting the current situation of limited access to higher education by providing sub-standard higher education.
We need to create the necessary institutional frame-work and capacities to combat this challenge.

After plenary presentations and extensive discussions on the sub-themes, participants agreed on the following Framework for Priority Action

Accreditation
and Quality Assurance
• On the strength of the merit of the European example of the Bologna process in fostering regional collaboration in quality assurance, accreditation and recognition of qualifications, the model should be recommended for the Africa region. In achieving this goal, a taskforce should be set up with UNESCO and AAU as lead agencies to develop a strategic plan for the consideration of the Conference of African Ministers of Education and the African Union on how Africa can model the Bologna process. Other members of the task-force should be drawn from southern Africa, central Africa, west Africa, east Africa and northern Africa. The taskforce should submit its interim report for discussion at a regional meeting on the subject to be convened by UNESCO during the fourth quarter of 2006.
• All national quality assurance agencies should document their good practices and share this resource with existing and potential quality assurance agencies in Africa and in other regions of the world. AAU and INQAAHE should be encouraged to facilitate this process.
• African governments should be encouraged to establish national commissions for higher education. At the present less than 10 exist throughout Africa. Communication on this recommendation should be extended to African Ministers of Education through the COMEDAF Secretariat.
• African governments should be encouraged to follow-up on the recommendations by MINEDAF VIII and establish accreditation and quality assurance agencies/cells for open, distance and technology-mediated learning.
• AAU should foster a scheme whereby national quality assurance agencies in Africa involve quality assurance agencies in other countries in Africa and elsewhere in the world in their accreditation activities for the purpose of cross-fertilisation of ideas and towards internationalisation of quality assurance practices.

Cross-Border Higher Education (CBHE)
• National quality assurance agencies and Ministries of Education should give greater intranational publicity to the UNESCO/OECD Guidelines so that the target group of users are made aware of the existence of the guidelines which should be customised for local use. The Division of Higher Education of UNESCO and OECD should take steps towards enhanced international publicity of the Guidelines.
• Ministries of education should be encouraged to translate the Guidelines into local languages for the purpose of better understanding of its provisions.
• UNESCO and OECD should facilitate training programmes for personnel of quality assurance agencies and ministries of education who are/will be involved in the use of the Guidelines.
• UNESCO should facilitate the setting up of a regional database of recognised higher education institutions in Africa to enhance the assessment of the legitimacy of cross-border providers. This data-base should be developed from national databases by accredited State authorities.
• Approval should be received from the local quality assurance agency before a foreign provider is permitted to operate in a receiving country.
• Confirmation should be received from the quality assurance agency in the exporting country that certificates issued by the exporting institution in the receiving country will be acceptable for employment purposes in the country of export.
• National quality assurance agencies should provide information to parents and potential students seeking such information on the nature and quality of offshore degrees. The setting up of a desk in the agency or Ministry of Education to offer such guidance and information is advised.
• A network should be established among quality assurance agencies to filter out rogue providers. The AAU network is proposed as a mechanism for achieving this.
• UNESCO and OECD should consider updating the guidelines with prescription for employers since this is absent in the present version of the document.
• Invite the G8 and other partners to support UNESCO in these initiatives.

Brain Drain
and Brain Gain
• Resources for addressing brain drain should be focussed on areas considered to be priority for regional development of Africa. These areas were identified as: biotechnology, energy, health sciences, ICT, basic sciences, environment, agriculture, social sciences and governance.
• In selecting countries for intervention at the regional level, criteria that should be applied are proposed as: existence of centres of excellence in the focal area; equitable geographical and linguistic spread; and data available from active UN agencies on the subject of brain drain and brain gain in Africa.
• UNESCO should approach the following organisations, among others to provide resources for implementing projects on brain gain in Africa: HP; JICA; international financial institutions; Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (Carnegie, MacArthur, Rockefeller, Ford, Hewlett and Mellon); ADEA Working Group on Higher Education, and the organised private sector.
• All current initiatives such as NEADS of NUC, TOKTEN of UNESCO/UNDP should be continued and strengthened in order to derive maximum benefit from the efforts to bring expatriate resources from the diaspora for short-term contributions.
• An African Fund for Academic Mobility should be established under the aegis of the AU.
• African experts in the diaspora should be invited to national and regional conferences in order to derive first hand experience from them on their needs and to secure valuable input into interventions to which they are targets.
• UNESCO should partner actively with AU on the implementation of the diaspora project.
• UNESCO should document and popularise good practices in reversing brain drain.
• An African master data-base of the human resources in the diaspora should be developed under the auspices of UNESCO which will be frequently updated. Such a database should be derived from national databases.
• African governments should strive to increasingly enhance the environment conducive to attracting and retaining skilled human capital, either through national policies or international arrangements to facilitate the return – permanent or temporary – of highly trained scholars and researchers to their countries of origin. At the same time, efforts must be directed towards a process of ‘brain gain’ through collaboration programmes that, by virtue of their international dimension, enhance the building and strengthening of institutions and facilitate full use of endogenous capacities.
• UNESCO should establish a Working Group on Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Africa to develop project proposals on these recommendations and to implement the foregoing conclusions.

Student mobility, Recognition of Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates
• Need to continue the revision of Arusha convention in the light of suggestions on the inclusion of life-long learning, ICT, GATS and other emerging issues. In undertaking the revision, input should be received from Member States after which the Convention Committee can meet to reflect the new changes.
• Promote an African higher education space as an over-arching framework for the above developments.

© Martin Malungu