Building a quality assurance framework for African higher education

Education specialists from African and European organisations met in Accra, Ghana, on 21–22 August 2015 to consider the process and possible operating arrangements for a continent-wide quality assurance and accreditation framework.

Purpose of the discussions

The initiative followed a decision to explore a continental accreditation approach for higher education. Work began on a Pan-African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Framework, commonly described at the time as PAQAF.

The process brought together continental and regional institutions working in higher education, distance learning, university cooperation, quality assurance and qualification recognition. A supporting study considered whether a continental framework was feasible and identified practical steps that could guide its development.

Who took part

Participants represented organisations operating at continental, regional and national levels. These included higher-education associations, quality assurance networks, distance-education bodies, regional university organisations, public institutions and international education specialists.

The range of participants reflected a central challenge: a continental framework would need to connect existing national and regional systems rather than treat African higher education as a single uniform environment.

Areas of agreement

The meeting identified several conditions viewed as important for continued development:

• A shared framework could encourage more consistent quality assurance practices while recognising different institutional and regional settings.
• Public endorsement and appropriate legal foundations would be necessary for a durable continental process.
• Universities and national and regional quality assurance bodies would need to understand the framework's purpose and regard it as useful.
• Long-term operation would require a sustainable funding model.
• Quality assurance and accreditation terminology would need to be explained consistently among participating institutions.

Participants also discussed how the mandate of a possible continental quality assurance and accreditation body might relate to existing authorities.

What was expected next

At the time, a further meeting was planned in Accra for 29–30 August 2015. Its intended purpose was to review the proposed process with national and regional quality assurance and accreditation agencies, alongside higher-education ministries.

Because this is A recorded account, readers researching later implementation should compare it with subsequently issued documents and current information from the responsible institutions.