As in Europe, quality assurance in higher education is a policy priority in Africa at institutional, national, regional as well as continental level. Many African countries have either created or are planning a robust quality assurance and accreditation system to address the public perception that educational quality is being compromised by recent expanding enrolment. The European Union and the African Union, in the context of the Africa-EU Strategic Partnership, had therefore selected ‘harmonisation, quality and accreditation’ as the primary action line of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, in which special attention was given to regional collaboration and harmonisation of quality assurance measures in the African continent. In developing a continental quality assurance and accreditation system, Africa sought to find a fit-for-purpose model that meets specific African needs, while building on the existing global models of regional collaboration (such as the European Higher Education Area).
Initiative activities
Activities as part of the HAQAA initiative addressed a number of measures and facets that are critical to building quality assurance and accreditation on a pan-African level in a comprehensive manner, including:
- the development of ‘The Pan-African Quality Assurance and Accreditation System’;
- enhancing regional collaboration in quality assurance and regional networks;
- capacity building for both internal and external quality assurance at the institutional, national and regional level;
- promoting good practices/sharing experiences between Europe, Africa and other world regions;
- linking together and building upon regional initiatives and political priorities.
Publications
The African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ASG-QA)
Partners of the consortium
ENQA was a partner in the initiative, which was coordinated by the University of Barcelona (UB) and ran from December 2015 until November 2018.
The other consortium partners were the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the European University Association (EUA), and the Association of African Universities (AAU).
Contact
For further information, please contact Paula Ranne or visit the HAQAA webpage.
The content of this initiative does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in the initiative lies entirely with the author(s).
Service contract to support the development of a harmonised quality assurance and accreditation system at institutional, national, regional and pan-African continental levels is funded by of the European Union “Harmonisation, Quality and Accreditation” initiative (EC EAC/37/2014).