This book examines the critical aspect of quality assurance maintenance of competitive-standards in African higher education. It explores both the micro and macro-levels of continental African higher education regulatory authorities, and analyses different institutional, regional and national practices for moving towards continental quality assurance approaches. Contributed to by scholars across Eastern and Southern Africa, the book considers conceptual, practical, epistemological and policy dimensions of quality and quality assurance, especially in relation to higher education in Africa. It therefore draws on research and local expertise to open up debate about how to assure and enhance the quality of higher education, providing a comprehensive review of eight countries and considers societal challenges. It aims to satisfy the need of more thoughtful and critical works on African education as produced by African educators. The uniqueness of this book lies in integrating both the theoretical and practical dimensions of quality to devise appropriate strategies for ensuring quality and standards in higher education in continental Africa and beyond. This authoritative book advocates for a timely discussion around the prpvision of good quality higher education and research in African universities, and will be of great interest to academics, policy makers, researchers and post-graduate students in the fields of higher education, comparative education and African studies.

Zusammenfassung: This book delves into the role of higher education as a means of sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Contributions from across the region examine the strategies and technological advances available to enable educands to deal with an uncertain future and are organised under two key themes: Curriculum and Teaching and Higher Education and Innovations. The volume brings together theoretical and practical perspectives, relating them to international benchmarks while maintaining the specificities of the African context. It will be of interest to students and scholars as well as practitioners whose work interrogates higher education, quality assurance, and sustainable development goals. Peter Neema-Abooki is a Professor of Higher Educational Management Studies and Development/Business and Management in Uganda, with academic connections in South Africa and Namibia. He is an Alumnus of DIES-National Multiplication Trainings (NMT), University of Potsdam, Germany; and has accordingly conducted a training of trainers (ToT) at Namibia University (UNAM). His other books include Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Eastern and Southern Africa: Regional and Continental Perspectives, and Quality Assessment and Enhancement in Higher Education in Africa

This book explores quality assessment and enhancement in higher education in Africa to illustrate the need to develop quality practices in measuring effective education and continually search for permanent improvement. The book demonstrates that technological and socio-economic trends, innovations, and inventions of the twenty-first century demand that additional attention be placed upon education for national, regional, and international development. Since conventions for quality assessment and enhancement need to be defined and systematic structures constructed to develop quality practices, the book shows how quality in higher education within Africa has been established and advanced to provide a framework for monitoring, auditing, and reviewing assessment and enhancement. Though the book considers African complexities and diversity, it incorporates global trends and utilises an international focus that enables readers to devise appropriate strategies for developing and enhancing quality and standards in higher education in both continental Africa and beyond. Illustrating why quality assessment and enhancement should be embraced in all aspects including inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes in educational settings globally, this book will be of interest to policymakers and scholars in the fields of Higher Education, Quality and Global Studies, African Education, African Studies and Management and Administration, Leadership and Professional Development Studies.

The role of higher education, especially the international dimension, is given little importance in the discourse on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa. This book aims to change that. The potential of higher education’s contribution to Africa’s development remains unrealized and often misunderstood. In today’s globalised world, which prioritises economic growth through liberalised trade and competitive market strategies, much emphasis has been placed on higher education’s ability to produce graduates to serve the labour market and produce new knowledge for the knowledge economy. While these are important contributions, the book argues that international higher education and new knowledge must go beyond economic purposes and serve the human and social development needs of the continent. It is against this background that the African Network for the Internationalisation of Education (ANIE) undertook research on the international dimension of higher education in Africa and its role in the achievement of the MDGs. Through empirical research, seven case studies address how international and regional higher education programmes and policies in African universities can address MDG priorities of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, combating HIV/AIDS and establishing global partnerships for development through academic mobility, joint research initiatives, curriculum innovation and policy development.

This report assesses the status and practice of higher education quality assurance in Sub - Sahara Africa, focusing on degree - granting tertiary institutions. A main finding is that structured national - level quality assurance processes in African higher education are a very recent phenomenon and that most countries face major capacity constrains. Only about a third of them have established structured national quality assurance mechanism, often only as recently as during the last ten years. Activities differ in their scope and rigor, ranging from simple licensing of institutions by the minister responsible for higher education, to comprehensive system - wide program accreditation and ranking of institutions. Within institutions of higher learning, self assessment and academic audits are gradually being adopted to supplement traditional quality assurance methods. However, knowledge about and experience with self - assessments are limited. The main challenges to quality assurance system in Africa are cost and human capacity requirements. For countries with large tertiary systems, the report recommends institutional, rather than program accreditation as a cost - effective option. However, where tertiary systems are small and underdeveloped, a less formal self - assessment for each institution may be necessary until the capacity could be strengthened to support a more formal nation quality assurance agency in the long run.