AFRICA: Unesco conference discusses quality assurance

How to achieve the Millennium Development Goals through higher education and how to improve the quality of higher education in Africa came under discussion in Dakar this month. Delegates gathered in the Senegalese capital for the Third International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, organised by the Unesco Bamako Cluster Office and Unesco's regional bureau for education Africa (Breda).

It was opened by Professor Moutapha Sourang, Senegal's minister with responsibility for secondary education and universities, who defined quality assurance as a means "through which an establishment can guarantee with confidence and certainty that the educational standards and quality it dispenses are maintained and improved".

Experts stressed that African universities must provide answers for the concerns of African people. "Higher education plays a determining part in forming human resources and research; it is a lever for development and must respond to challenges that societies make," said Breda's director, Ann Thérèse Ndong Jatta, according to a report in Le Soleil of Dakar.

The Millennium Development Goals are eight objectives that 189 United Nations member states and more than 20 international organisations agreed in Dakar in 2000 to achieve by 2015. They are: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV-AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; develop a global partnership for development.

The meeting heard that universities could not fulfil their missions without adjusting to reforms, said Le Soleil. "Many countries are organising themselves for reform; quality assurance is a priority of the first order," said Professor Juma Shabani, director of the Unesco Bamako office. "It is imperative for universities to join in what is happening at the international level, or see themselves marginalised."

Professor Peter Okebukola, representative of the Conseil Africain et Malgache pour l'Enseignement Supérieur (CAMES) and president of GUNI-Africa, spoke of the need for a harmonised system of evaluation, reported Le Soleil.

Sourang said the Bologna process degree system of three, five and eight years' higher education (bachelor, master and PhD) was an "excellent ticket" for universal education, reported Sud Quotidien of Dakar. To achieve this, "establishments must offer sufficient quality programmes, qualified teachers and above all resources to ensure and maintain their quality", said the minister.

The meeting's proposals for future action will be presented in Dakar in November at a Unesco regional conference on Higher Education in Africa. This will bring together 57 African education ministers, in preparation for the Organisation's WCHE+10 conference in July 2009 (see University World News Events Diary).

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