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UNESCO HARARE CLUSTER OFFICE &
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THE
OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA |
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Second International Conference On Quality Assurance
In Higher Education In Africa
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:
17–19 SEPTEMBER 2007
2nd ANNOUNCEMENT & INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE
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The UNESCO Harare Cluster Office, in
collaboration with the Open University of Tanzania, the
Tanzania Commission for Universities and other partners
within and outside Africa, is pleased to announce the Second
International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher
Education in Africa, scheduled to take place from 17–19 September
2007 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The context of this conference is set within the African Union
Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015). One of the
core goals of the Decade as endorsed by the Second Extraordinary
Meeting of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the
African Union (COMEDAF II +) held from 4–7 September, 2006, in
Maputo, Mozambique is the promotion, development and assurance
of quality in African Higher Education in all its dimensions,
including the development and ratification of Regional and
Continental Qualification Frameworks (such as the Arusha
Convention) to facilitate mobility of students and staff.
Improved contribution of higher education institutions to
education quality enhancement, particularly teacher education
and curriculum and educational materials development is equally
stressed. AU also envisions the development of appropriate
policies to address issues of global significance and impact,
including cross-border education, and the privatisation of
provision.
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In February 2006, UNESCO Harare Cluster Office in
collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in
Africa (BREDA), UNESCO Regional Office for Science and
Technology in Africa (ROSTA), Division of Higher Education
UNESCO Paris and the National Universities Commission (NUC) of
Nigeria organised an international conference on “Accreditation,
Quality Assurance and Recognition of Qualifications in Higher
Education in Africa”. During the course of the conference, five
key issues emerged. First, of all the regions of the world,
sub-Saharan Africa was noted to be the least served in higher
education quality assurance. This was identified as a factor in
the depressed quality of graduates from the region especially in
the last five years. Intra-country and cross-national mobility
of students was also found to be one of the least encouraged.
Secondly, the region was found to be sparse with national
quality assurance agencies and worse still, has weak networks of
such agencies at sub-regional and regional levels. Thirdly, the
region was found to be poorly prepared for assuring the quality
of delivery of cross-border higher education. Fourthly, the
quest for higher education by way of access was projected to
take a steep climb in the coming years thereby making quality a
matter for urgent attention. The fifth issue was the need to be
part of the ten-year plan by the African Union to revitalise
higher education in the region with quality assurance as a focal
subject.
When aggregated, these concerns stimulated a convergence of
opinion that a one-shot conference of stakeholders such as the
2006 Nairobi conference and allied professional meetings and
seminars are inadequate to deepen our understanding of the
issues and sustain a tempo of action to address the problems.
Hence, in order to keep abreast of global developments in higher
education quality assurance and to monitor progress of national
and regional action plans on quality assurance, recognition of
degrees and mobility of students, it was agreed that a series of
annual conferences be conducted under the name
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON QUALITY
ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA (ICQAHEA).
These conferences draw on the work of the UNESCO Global Forum on
International Quality Assurance, Accreditation and the
Recognition of Qualifications.
This second Conference is being organised within the framework
of the Follow-Up to the 1998 UNESCO World Conference and the
implementation of the African Union Second Decade of Education
in Africa (2006-2015), the Second meeting of the Forum of
African Regional and Sub-Regional Organizations in Support of
Cooperation between UNESCO and NEPAD (FOSRASUN) held in September 2006 in
Paris and the 2007 Action Plan of the Global University Network
for Innovation (GUNI) for the Africa Region. The 2007 ICQAHEA is
held in conjunction with the 3rd UNESCO Global Forum on
International Quality Assurance, Accreditation and the
Recognition of Qualifications.
The 2006 Nairobi Conference was taken to be the first in the
series. The annual nature of ICQAHEA will guarantee that
stakeholders in quality assurance continue to give a high
priority to the quality of higher education in Africa
The twin issues of policy and practice are playing an important
role in identifying the strategies needed in order to take up
effectively the major challenges facing quality assurance in
higher education in Africa. What policies and legal provisions
are in place or should be in place? What practices are on-going
that need to be strengthened to enhance success? What can be
learned by countries with relatively weak higher education
quality assurance mechanisms? How can Africa take better
advantage of the UNESCO-OECD Guidelines on Cross-border Higher
Education? What innovative strategies can be applied to
fostering intra-country and international mobility of students?
These are some of the key questions that ICQAHEA-2007 will
address.
Theme: ICQAHEA-2007 is on
the theme “Promoting Sustainable Quality Assurance Policy and
Practice in Higher Education in Africa”.
Sub-themes:
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Nexus between sustainable
policy and practice in quality assurance and mobility of
students.
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Linking sustainable higher
education quality assurance with regional and national
development plans.
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Quality assurance of private
higher education: Policy and Practice.
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Quality assurance of
cross-border higher education: Policy and Practice.
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Quality assurance of Open and
Distance Learning: Policy and Practice.
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Programme and institutional
accreditation: Policy and Practice.
Objectives:
The conference will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to
deliberate on how higher education development in Africa can be
stimulated through sustainable policies and practices in quality
assurance. More specifically, the conference will:
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review recent
developments in policy and practice in quality
assurance in higher education in different regions
of the world with a view to identifying exemplary
models;
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propose templates for
ensuring sustainable quality assurance policies and
practices in Africa on the basis of global exemplary
models and local context;
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highlight best practices
in quality assurance policy and practice in private
higher education, cross-border higher education and
open and distance learning;
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review progress made in
the implementation of the Action Plan of the First
ICQAHAE; and
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foster the establishment
of valuable relationships among participants and
build a resource and information network on quality
assurance in Africa.
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The conference will take place in Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania from 17th to 19th September, 2007. Arrival is on the 16th
while departure is on the 20th.
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Participation in the Conference |
The conference will be of interest to all
stakeholders in quality assurance in higher education in Africa
as well as policy makers and practitioners in quality assurance
from other regions of the world. Participation is open but not
limited to:
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Ministers in charge of
Education/Higher education
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Permanent
Secretaries/Directors-General of Education
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Heads and management teams of
national and regional quality assurance agencies
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Vice-Chancellors, Rectors and
Provosts of higher education institutions
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Representatives of SADC countries
and from other countries outside the SADC community with
interest in developing National Qualifications/Quality
Assurance Frameworks
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Quality Assurance practitioners
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Civil society
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Staff Unions
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Student Associations
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Development Partners
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All stakeholders in education
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Papers or posters on issues falling within the
sub-themes outlined above and on the development of National
Qualifications/Quality Assurance Frameworks may be submitted as
contributions to the conference. Persons who wish to present a
paper or poster at the conference must submit an extended
synopsis (in English or French) of 800 words together with
completed the registration Form A before 30 April, 2007 to the
Conference Secretariat, email:
j.shabani@unesco.org.
The registration form is available on the Conference websites.
Authors will be informed by early June 2007 whether
their paper/poster has been accepted for presentation by the
Programme Committee. A subset of papers presented at the
conference will be published by UNESCO in collaboration with the
International Centre for Higher Education of Boston College,
subject to peer review. Further details will be provided after
the extended synopses have been reviewed.
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No registration fee is charged to participants.
As a general rule, ICQAHEA does not pay for participants’ travel
and living expenses. However, limited funds are available to
help meet the cost of attendance of selected specialists.
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A limited amount of space will be available for
commercial vendors’ displays/exhibits during the conference.
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The working languages of the meeting will be
English and French. All communications, synopses, abstracts and
papers should be in one of these languages.
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Distribution of Documents |
A preliminary programme of the conference and
workshop will be sent to participants before the meetings. The
final programme and the Book of Extended Synopses will be
distributed at registration.
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Detailed information on accommodation and other
items will be sent directly to all participants approximately
two to three months before the meetings. This information will
also be made available on the conference web site.
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Participants who require entry visa for Tanzania
should submit the necessary application to the nearest
diplomatic or consular representative of Tanzania as soon as
possible. Formal letter of invitation to facilitate the
processing of visa application will be sent to participants on
request.
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Co-organisers of the conference include the
following:
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Division of Higher Education,
UNESCO Paris;
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UNESCO Regional Bureau for
Education in Africa, Dakar;
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Global University Network for
Innovation (GUNI)- Africa;
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UNESCO Dar es Salaam Cluster
Office;
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The Tanzania Commission for
Universities;
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The Secretariat of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC);
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The Secretariat of the Common
Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA);
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The National Universities
Commission of Nigeria; and
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The European Foundation for
E-learning.
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For further information, please contact:
Professor Juma Shabani
Director and Representative
UNESCO Harare Cluster Office
Harare Zimbabwe
j.shabani@unesco.org.
Professor Peter Okebukola
Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council, Crawford
University
Igbesa, Ogun State, Nigeria
peter@okebukola.com.
Professor Dunstan Shemwetta
Deputy
Vice Chancellor (Academic)
The Open University of Tanzania
dshemwetta@out.ac.tz;
shemwetta@yahoo.com.
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