DR CONGO: Minister sets up higher education audit

The Minister for Higher and University Education in the Democratic Republic of Congo has appointed a commission to carry out an organisational audit and inquiry into the state of the country's higher education.

Le Potentiel of Kinshasa reported that the Minister, Léonard Mashako Mamba, announced the commission would consist of representatives from the President's and Prime Minister's offices and the ministries of Higher Education, Justice and Health, together with delegates of students, unions and other interested bodies. Its job would be to investigate the viability of public and private universities and institutes with the aim of laying foundations for quality education.

Institutions would be categorised in three groups - viable, fairly viable and below standard, said Le Potentiel.

Mashako painted a gloomy picture of the sector, said the paper, characterised by under-qualification of administrative staff, managers' ignorance of legal and regulatory texts, subjective promotions, proliferation of public and private institutions, the unwarranted opening and expansion of new establishments and courses with or without authorisation and with no care for standards, lack of control over students and the ageing of qualified lecturers.