The National Universities Commission (NUC), was among the high profile participants at the 4-day Workshop on Harmonisation of Quality Assurance Accreditation HAQAA3 Dissemination Project, held at DAAD Office, in Accra,Ghana.
The NUC Deputy Director, Academic Planning and Head, Resource and Strategic Planning Division, Dr. Joseph Nte Bisong, whose participation and representation of the Commission at the event was spurred by HAQAA3 Grant Award he received from Nigeria, and made possible also by the approval of the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, FVCSN.
The grant, valued at approximately ten thousand pounds, is awarded by DAAD/EU under the auspices of the Harmonisation, Quality Assurance and Accreditation Framework in African Higher Education Initiative (HAQAA3 Initiative).
The workshop which featured presentations’ on diverse topics relevant to the subject by high-profile resource persons, including the Head of Division, DAAD Bonn, Germany, Dr. Stefan Hase-Bergen, Lena Leumer, Director, DAAD Ghana, and the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Kumasi Technical University Prof. Ing.. Abena Agyeiwaa Obiri-Yeboah, was well-attended by 12 other African countries namely, Cote d’ Ivoire, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda.
The Accra event was an academic assembly of some sort which mainly featured Project Coordinators of the HAQAA3 Dissemination Project across Africa, including Nigeria, whose proposals were selected as the best in the continent for the DAAD funding, after a rigorous process of evaluation.
While speaking to NUC Monday Bulletin, the Grant Award Winner Dr. Nte Bisong said: “In all humility, I consider it an uncommon privilege to have represented the Commission and indeed Nigeria at an international event of such a magnitude.
“I sincerely attribute the invaluable milestone to the tremendous support I received from the Executive Secretary, Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, and the overwhelming encouragement from the Coordinator, Directorate of Special Project, Dr. Joshua Atah, as well as the solid faith of my ally on the matter and fellow HAQAA3 Ambassadors, particularly Mrs. Sa’adiya Sambo and Mrs. Kate Omotayo Onaiyekan,” he stated.
He expressed appreciation to his erstwhile immediate superior Officer and former Deputy Executive Secretary (Academics) Dr. Noel Biodun Saliu, for considering him worthy of nomination for the HAQAA3 two weeks online Training on External Quality Assurance (EQA) which took place some few months back from where it all began.
- Meanwhile, the objectives of the workshop in Accra, include among others to: Provide a platform for participants to learn more about the national quality assurance (QA) systems of other participating countries and the regional frameworks in West, North and East Africa;
- Bridge the gap between the higher education systems, region and languages;
- Enable participants present their respective projects and provide peer feedback and inspiration;
- Equip participants with information on legal regulations regarding the administration of their projects, including reporting obligations;
- Refresh participants’ knowledge about workshop design and methods for interactive group work; and
- Enable participants gain new contacts to QA professionals and strengthen the existing network of HAQAA Ambassadors.
The focus of HAQQA3 Initiative is on Africa’s higher education, which has the DAAD as the major financier received the support of OBREAL Global, European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (EnQa), Global Gateway and the Association of African Universities (AAU).
The cardinal objectives of HAQQA3 Initiative is to strengthen quality assurance culture as well as promote mutual recognition of qualifications and accreditation and facilitate the establishment of a Pan-African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (PAQAA)
It was also meant to enhance regional integration within the various regional blocks, thereby fostering the integration of higher education, with the view to improving the capacity of the sector to act as a catalyst for the socio-economic growth and development of the continent, pursuant to the attainment of Africa’s Agenda 2063 –Africa’s blueprint for transforming the continent into a global powerhouse. HAQAA3 Initiative has a duration of 5 years (2023 to 2028).
The HAQAA3 Dissemination Project in Nigeria under the stewardship of Dr. Bisong as Project Coordinator would run for 7 months with the Coordinator, Directorate of Special Projects, NUC, Dr. Joshua Atah, as the Project Overseer.
In tandem with NUC’s agreement with DAAD, the Prize is to be deployed to organise a ‘3-Day Roundtable of the National Universities Commission and Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities on the African Standards and Guidelines on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa (ASG-QA).
The ASG-QA is a set of standards and guidance for internal and external quality assurance in higher education with the goal of promoting to a large extent, consistency in the quality delivery of higher education in Africa, helping to promote recognition of certificates; improve learning outcomes; ensure academic exchange; result in faculty mobility; bring about admission placements of Africans in any university within the continent; and of course credit transfer.
The ASG-QA is a welcome development to a continent where many countries seem to be operating in silos without a strong nexus either among them or in- between sub-regional blocks, which is required for the blossoming of higher education in Africa.
The Nigerian University System (NUS) comprising the NUC and 300 universities is adjudged to be the largest university system in Africa and perhaps one of the oldest in the continent.
Unfortunately, the NUS is largely unaware of the existence of ASG-QA and its tremendous potentials and the overarching goal of the “3-Day DAAD-funded Roundtable is to rapidly improve the popularity, acceptability and adaptability of the ASG-QA (the continental quality assurance and accreditation framework) in the Nigerian University System.
As a dynamic regulatory agency whose operations and practices are constantly reflective of contemporary realities, the Commission is indeed poised, as always, to engage with relevant stakeholders in the Nigerian University System on the ensuing subject. Suffice is to say NUC’s unwavering commitment to promote the ASG-QA in Nigeria is in cognizance of the huge potentials of an integrated higher education in the repositioning of higher education in Africa, in terms of faculty mobility, academic credit transfer, qualification framework compatibility, staff/student exchange, research and collaboration, curriculum improvement and delivery, as well, quality assurance agency review.
A grant agreement was signed between NUC and DAAD detailing the commitment of both parties to the project.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Ribadu praised the award-winning Deputy Director, Dr. Bisong for making the Commission proud.
He stated Management’s readiness to support staff actions that are in tandem with the Commission’s mandate and specifically reiterated Management’s resolve to give Dr. Bisong, the enabling environment that would guarantee fruitful and resounding outcomes in agreement with the Project Development Objectives (PDO).