PULSAR Programme for University Leadership in
the SADC Region organized by SARUA
Johannesburg, South Africa, 9 – 13 July 2012
Higher Education Regulatory Systems:
Role of Universities and External Agencies
Mayunga H.H. Nkunya
Executive Secretary, Inter-University Council for East Africa and
Former Executive Secretary, Tanzania Commission for Universities
www.iucea.org
Presentation Plan
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Global Trends in Higher Education
Future Roles of Higher Education Institutions
Future Challenges in Higher Education
Quality in Higher Education and Systems Thereof
Quality Assurance, Internal and External Evaluation and
Accreditation Systems
External Quality Assurance Systems in Africa
Functions of an External Quality Assurance Agency
Role of Higher Education Institutions in Quality Assurance
and Accreditation
Peer Review Process, and Peer Review System vs External
Examiner system
Qualifications Frameworks and recognition of qualifications
Position
of
the
SADC
Region
Global trends in higher education
• Diverse provision systems and providers
• More heterogeneous student bodies, e.g. residential and
non-residential, mature, working while studying, without
having gone through formal education systems, etc.
• Increasing focus on accountability, performance and quality
of outputs
• Diverse institutional management governance systems
• Internationalization and commodification of higher education
• Diversity of higher education systems
• Emergence of national, regional, international quality
assurance frameworks
• Ranking of universities based on diverse criteria
Regionalization/Globalization and Higher Education Trends
Globalization has promoted the creation of regional common market
blocks (e.g. EU, AU, SADC, EAC, etc.) characterized by:
oNeed for appropriate frameworks for harmonization of education
systems and mutual recognition of qualifications to facilitate free
movement of human capital, students, study programmes,
education providers, etc.
oEnhanced regional collaboration in education delivery and crossborder education systems for promoting regional integration
requiring harmonized regional systems of higher education,
frameworks for quality assurance based on benchmarking, and
accreditation systems
National responses/interventions…
• Education reforms through supportive legislative and policy
frameworks
• Setting in of liberal education policies promoting public-private
partnerships, private higher education provision, and parallel
systems of education delivery
• Enhancing and diversification of higher education financing
through
promotion
of
public-private
partnerships,
endowment/revolving funds, loan schemes, etc.
• Establishment of higher education regulatory frameworks and
harmonization of higher education systems and standards at
national levels linked to regional/international systems
Harmonization framework for higher education as envisioned in the
Plan of Action for Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015)
-
Agree, synchronize and coordinate higher education provision across
the African continent
-
Develop and agree on benchmark standards
-
Ensure equivalency and comparability of qualifications between and
within countries
-
Avoid disruption, but enhance national (and sub-regional) education
systems and programs, instead build on their existing frameworks
Harmonization does not entail standardization or achieving uniform
higher education system for every country; it emphasizes on respect
to national/institutional systems, policies and peculiarities, but
advocating on enhanced quality of education
Quality in Higher Education
No single (simple) definition of quality in higher education,
as quality may refer to:
o
Students and parents views on expected achievement and
learning outcomes
o
Institutional owners commitment to satisfy societal
expectations, value for investment, customer expectations,
public policies, etc.
o
Institutional managers achieving missions, adherence to
internal policy, accountability to stakeholders, etc.
Quality in higher education …
Generally quality is a multi-dimensional concept with
various interpretations, such as:
o
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o
o
o
o
Excellence
Perfection
Value for money
Transformation
Meeting customers needs
Conformity to standards
Fitness for purpose and fitness of purpose
Quality in higher education …
o
Quality as excellence: A traditional university view as a goal for
being “the best and special” with exceptionally high standards
of academic achievement:
May not be appropriate to mass higher education
provision,
since it can lead to exclusivity and
elitism: excellence by definition is only attainable by few
!
o
Quality as perfection: Applied in manufacturing where quality is
viewed in terms of consistency through perfectly meeting a
given set of specifications with zero defects:
o
Inappropriate to inputs and products of higher
education because students and graduates are never
identical
Quality in higher education …
o
Quality as value for money: Quality assessed with respect to
return on investment or expenditure: linked to accountability
to public expenditure where students, parents and owners of
higher education institutions consider the value for money of
their investment
Applies to higher education
o
Quality as transformation: Quality as change from one state to
another with added value, focusing on the transformation
brought to students by learning and ultimately empowering
them with new knowledge, skills and competences
Applies to higher education
Quality in higher education …
o
Quality as conformity to standards: A quality control approach
where an institution is considered as a quality one if it meets
pre-determined standards, thus ensuring that institutions or
programmes meet certain threshold levels
May apply to higher education provided that the
standards are just benchmarks, and hence not
aquality control approach per see
Quality
in
higher
education
…
Quality as ‘fitness for purpose’ and ‘fitness of purpose’
oFitness for purpose refers assessing as to what extent the intended
outcomes in higher education are being achieved
oQuality in the context of fitness of purpose means relevance and
responsiveness to national and societal needs
Therefore quality may be regarded as fitness for purpose as well as
fitness of purpose
Most acceptable definition of quality in higher education
Quality Assurance
o Quality assurance means a planned and systematic review of
an institution or programme to determine maintenance and
enhancement of acceptable benchmarks
o Quality assurance can be considered to mean all policies,
processes and actions through which the quality of higher
education is measured, maintained and developed
o It is a systematic and continuous attention to quality and
quality improvement:
It is not a one time event but a continuous process!
Quality assurance has two components …
 Internal quality assurance: The institution’s mechanisms to
ensure and improve its own quality
 External quality assurance: Monitoring the quality of higher
education at institutions by external quality assurance agency,
e.g. national commission/council for higher education
 In some countries such external agents can be either public,
private institutions or both (see later)
 As quality in higher education is the responsibility of the
institution external quality assurance systems require higher
education institutions to set up appropriate internal quality
assurance systems, structures and mechanisms
Need for External Quality Assurance Agencies
•
Liberalization of higher education led to emergence of private
higher education institutions with diverse quality standards
•
Upon proliferation of private higher education providers in Africa,
there was need to regulate and coordinate the up coming private
higher education providers
•
This needed establishment of (government) institutions that
would regulate and coordinate the establishment and functioning
of private higher education institutions so that their adherence to
quality and national values could be monitored and appropriately
guided
Need for External Quality Assurance Agencies …
•
Hence higher education agencies were established under various
names: councils for higher education, commissions for higher
education, accreditation councils, etc.
•
Initially, the main purpose of the higher education agencies was
to regulate private institutions rather than to enhance
accountability and quality improvement
Need for External Quality Assurance Agencies …
•
Public universities that had been established by their own
legislations were presumed not to be covered by the regulatory
systems, despite the fact that legal instruments establishing the
regulatory agencies gave the agencies mandate to regulate all
university institutions.
•
That caused friction between university senates/management and
the regulatory agencies, which in a way tended to jeopardize the
authority of the regulatory agencies even among private
universities
Need for External Quality Assurance Agencies …
•
Tension between public universities (and private universities) and
the regulatory agencies was caused also by the approach that
some of the regulatory agencies used to deal with universities, as
in many cases it was a policing style and show of mighty rather
than a quality improvement approach
•
This might have been the case because some of the staff who ran
the quality assurance agencies were drawn from school
inspectorate departments of ministries of education, with little or
no experience on university systems and the institutional
autonomy and academic freedom that universities enjoy.
Later developments ……
• Due to globalization and the fact that higher education expansion
also involved establishment of new public universities a number
of African countries saw the need to enhance the role of
regulatory agencies in public universities, by the public
universities being treated the same way as the private ones.
• In addition some agencies were not only regulating the quality and
functioning of universities, but they were also providing advisory
services to the governments, and were giving strategic support to
the universities, in terms of capacity building programmes,
training in curriculum development, in quality assurance regimes,
etc.
• Some were even coordinating admission of students into higher
education institutions so as to maintain uniformity of the quality of
incoming students
• In many quality assurance agencies in Africa most of these
arrangements continue to be applied to date
Later developments ……
•
•
•
•
Some of the agencies were and still continue to license new
university institutions, either only private universities, or both public
and private, allowing them to operate in the country.
In a number of countries no new academic programme (s) can be
offered without the approval (accreditation?) of the national
regulatory agency
They also carried/continue to carry out periodic institutional
evaluation (audit) leading to accreditation or otherwise
Legal mandates gave/continue to give some regulatory agencies
powers to suspend an institution from operating in the country, or to
close it altogether.
Later developments ……
•
•
Operations of some regulatory agencies are discriminatory between
local institutions and foreign ones operating in the country, on the
assumption that foreign institutions are always of good quality since
they would have undergone rigorous scrutiny by systems in their
home countries
Some agencies also undertake recognition of qualifications obtained
overseas and act as agents for recognition of qualifications from
national institutions for external organizations, or from overseas for
use by local organizations
Accreditation
o Accreditation means a process of formal recognition of a
university, university college or other degree-awarding
institution or study programme as having met predetermined
benchmark standards
o It is a quality assurance tool for evaluating the quality of a
higher education institution or a programme to formally
recognize it as having met benchmark (minimum) standards of
quality
o Accreditation is a periodic undertaking of an external quality
assurance agency as assurance on adherence to quality
o Its is the ultimate goal of a quality assurance system which
gives incentive to the system of quality assurance
o There is interchangeable use of terms that refer and those not
refering to accreditation per see, such as quality assurance,
recognition, licensing, chartering
External quality assurance agencies and higher education systems
• External agencies are supposed to ensure that higher education
institutions and/or programs meet benchmark standards set at
national, and/or regional, and/or international levels
• They provide public assurance of quality, hence ensuring
accountability of higher education institutions to the stakeholders
through promotion of quality improvement culture
• They help higher education institutions and their programs to
move in a set direction towards continuous quality improvement
using the set quality assurnce systems
• However, quality assurnce is just the means and not the end
product of the entire process
The end product is stakeholder satisfaction
An external quality assurance agency should be …
o Independent with autonomous responsibility for its operations,
the operational independence being ensured through a legal
framework that clearly describes the agency’s mandate
o Comprised of a governing board from various sectors that
represent higher education stakeholders
o Have sufficient level of autonomy ensuring independence
o Operating under an appropriate quality assurance framework
that is sensitive to local context and is consistent with
international practices
o Have transparent procedures so as to ensure accountability
o Adequately financed
o Competent with its staff and external reviewers being people of
unquestionable integrity
o Continuously reviewing the impact of external quality assurance
processes on the higher education system it oversees
Functions of an external quality assurance agency
o Developing standards and procedures for self-assessment and
external review
o Manage data on higher education institutions
o Selection and training of external reviewers
o Liaise with higher education institutions on the quality
assurance processes and site visits
o Monitor, make decision and report to the public on key quality
outcomes
o Manage appeals of higher education institutions (if any)
o Organize capacity building interventions
o Promote external relations and networking with other quality
assurance agencies
Africa’s external quality assurance systems
• Government registration or licensing systems within a national
legal framework: These mainly operate in Francophone and
Lusophone countries
• Ministry of Education recognition on a functional level, i.e. in a
department within the Ministry of Education: These operate in
Francophone and Lusophone countries
• Semi-Autonomous Quality Assurance Agencies that are governed
and protected by specific legislation: These are found almost
exclusively in Anglophone countries, and follow the European
model
Accreditation systems
• Professional associations often accredit their programs,
sometimes in collaboration with national regulatory agencies while
others recognize accreditation done by the national regulatory
agencies only
• Some are incorporating American elements of course credits,
continuous assessment, semester systems.
• Regional systems are emerging in Africa, such as those by
SARUA/SADC, IUCEA, etc. but until now there are no regional
system in other parts of Africa, North Africa is served by the Arab
system that extends to the Middle East
• No regional systems in Anglophone West Africa
• CAMES operates in 16 Francophone African countries and has
now taken up the quality assurance and accreditation portfolio
Should regional accreditation systems be introduced in
Africa? If so how should they operate?
Features of African Accreditation Systems
In Africa External quality assurance agencies can:
• Cover only public institutions, only private institutions, or both
• Accredit institutions, or programs, or both
• Accredit degree programs, non-degree programs, or both
• Determine equivalence of foreign credentials
• Regulate cross-border higher education
• Regulate criteria for student admissions, degree classifications
academic staff promotions, etc.
 Accreditation is normally compulsory and not voluntary
 External quality assurance agencies are closely linked to
Government
Assessment features common to most external quality assurance
systems in Africa
• Assessment of to what extent mission and vision statements
(fitness for purpose, fitness of purpose) hare being pursued
• Assessment of academic programs
• Physical infrastructure: Library, physical and technical
resources
• Staff: number and qualifications
• Students: numbers and admissions requirements
• Financial resources per student
• Transparency in publication of Results published
• Some are also involved in vetting qualifications of students
being admitted in higher education institutions
Assessment features common to most external quality
assurance systems in Africa …
•
Availability and adherence to policies and procedures for
internal quality assurance systems
•
Consistent application of agreed quality assurance criteria and
procedures
•
Quality of academic staff
•
Resources to support learning assured
•
Effective institutional management and governance systems
•
Periodic publications on quality of courses
•
Student evaluations (of course programmes) and students
assessment processes
Requirements for external quality assurance and/or accreditation
•
Every university is supposed to conduct an institution-wide selfassessment of its operations, prepare a self evaluation report
which is then submitted to the external agency as a basis for
carrying out an external assessment leading to quality
improvement and/or accreditation
•
After external evaluation the higher education institution is
expected to prepare a quality improvement plan that will address
recommendations by the external agency on quality improvement
•
In some cases External Agencies require higher education
institutions to cover the costs of the team of external experts
•
Higher Education Institutions are require to keep documentary
evidence on their quality assurance systems and other
operations, as these would be needed by External Agency
Uncommon features related to accreditation in African
• Linking the outcome of quality assessment and government
funding allocation
• Linking quality assessment to the quality and level of outputs in
terms of graduates and research output and quality
Is it appropriate to build links of quality assessment to funding
allocation and quality and level of outputs for quality improvement
and increased accountability of universities in the SADC region?
Impact of External Assessment and/or Accreditation
•
Promotion of higher education differentiation by incorporating
diversity in types of institutions, courses, delivery mechanisms
and institutional benchmarking
•
Integration of higher education systems promoting mutual
existence of public and private higher education and easing
transfer of credits, etc.
•
Enhanced employability of graduates, raised employer attitudes
(especially in respect of private HEIs) due to enhanced
stakeholder confidence
Private accreditation agencies
• They operate in Europe and North America
• Some of them are bogus institutions set for the purpose of
accrediting degree (diploma mills), and hence may even be own
by the degree mills
Should private accreditation agencies be allowed to
operate in Africa?
Peer review process
•
A peer in the context of quality assurance in higher education is
a person who understands the context in which a quality review
is being undertaken and is able to contribute to the process
•
Peer review is the process of evaluating the provision, work
process, or output of an individual or collective higher
education system operating in the same milieu as the
reviewer(s)
•
Although universities are required to carry out own self
assessments as part of a quality assurance process, an
external assessment by an expert team (peer review) is an
additional instrument to learn more about the quality in the
institution
The peer review process ……
•
External assessment gives authority to the outcome of selfassessment
•
Also external assessment delivers confidence to stakeholders,
provides evidence of quality to the public, and shows that the
standards agreed upon by the competent authority (External
Agency) are being implemented
•
Provides mechanism for continuous quality improvement in the
sustainability and development of the program and buffers
against pressures to lower quality standards
•
Therefore, at the end of a peer review process the higher
education institution is supposed to prepare a quality
improvement plan based on the peer review recommendations
The missions for an external expert (peer review) team
•
Listens to the faculty and act as colleagues, using their
expertise and experience to offer advice and recommendations
•
Writes a report that might be made public or remains
confidential, but the team has to give in its report independent
verdict on the quality of the higher education institution
•
Is bound to confidentiality about everything the team will hear
or read about the quality of the program or institution under
assessment
Composition of an external expert team
•
A chairperson, who is totally independent of the programme or
institution being assessed, and does not need to be an expert in
the field being assessed, if possible should have experience in
management structures in higher education institutions and
with the developments that have taken place during the last few
years
•
Two experts in the programme subject area/discipline of the
institution
•
An expert from the labour market area taking up graduates
and/or from the professional association
•
An expert on education/learning process
•
An official from the national quality assurance agency who will
be secretary
•
A student?
Peer Review vs External Examiner System
•
Most universities in Eastern and Southern Africa run an
external examiner system at the end of every academic year
•
The perceived role of the external examiner is to evaluate and
advise the university on the quality of the teaching and learning
process based on evaluating examination papers, performance
of students in examinations, fair marking of student scripts, etc.
•
The duration of an external examination process being not
more than one week makes it difficult for the external examiner
to carry out an objective evaluation of the teaching and learning
process for quality improvement
Should the peer review process replace the external
examiner system in the long run?
Should the peer review process run in parallel with the
external examiner system? How should they run together?
The need for regional quality assurance systems
 Through regional quality assurance systems it is possible to set
common regional higher education quality standards as a process
of harmonization of higher education standards and promotion of
institutional benchmarking
 Promote regional/international comparability and compatibility of
higher education
 Promote and enhance regional/international student and staff
mobility, and labour mobility of graduates
 Promote National, regional and internationally competitiveness of
higher education products
 Institutional accountability to national/international stakeholders
through the promotion of institutional competitiveness at regional
level
Should regional quality assurance systems be used for
regional ranking of higher education institutions?
The qualifications recognition dilemma
• The introduction of an accreditation system is supposedly
expected to streamline recognition of qualifications obtained from
accredited institutions
• However, with the advent of bogus higher education providers or
for profit private higher education, coupled with the emergence of
quack accreditation agencies, recognition of qualifications even
from the so called accredited institutions is no longer automatic!
• The question presently being asked in the recognition process is:
Is the degree recognized in the country where the qualification had
been awarded?
• The development of regional economic blocks like SADC, EAC,
COMEA, ECOWAS has brought about the necessity of
establishing appropriate frameworks for recognition of
qualifications obtained locally and from other countries
• Hence the need to establish national and regional qualifications
frameworks
Position of the SADC Region
• SADC aims to establish a strong regional cooperation
• There is a SADC Protocol on Education and Training and
SADC is working for a harmonized quality education system
– common QA criteria, procedures and guidelines
• Establishment of a framework for comparability of
qualifications to facilitate free movement of students,
teachers, academics, researchers, trained labour in the
region.
• SADC is contributing to the AU initiative for harmonization
of education in Africa
What is a qualifications framework?
• Qualifications framework means an instrument for the
development and classification of qualifications according to a
set of criteria for levels of learning and skills and competences
achieved
• SADC Countries have spearheads establishment of national
qualifications frameworks and a regional framework onto which
the national frameworks are linked
National Qualifications Frameworks
• The importance of national and regional qualification
frameworks is steadily growing both globally and in Africa
• IUCEA is currently preparing and East African qualifications
framework as a generic instrument onto which the national
frameworks will be anchored
• Qualifications frameworks provide for the alignment of
education levels (degrees, credentials, qualifications) with
expected student competencies and learning outcomes
• Qualifications frameworks are used for both internal (career
paths, professional licensing, transfer credits, articulation in
study programmes, recognition of prior learning) and
international purposes.
• Qualifications frameworks offer reciprocity and reliability across
countries as students move internationally and want to carry
their credits and credentials with them (CHEA, Inside
Accreditation, vol 5, No 5)
• SADC is leading the development of an African qualifications
framework?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION