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The recent findings of the Inter-University Council for East
Africa regarding the quality of graduates in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda,
Tanzania and Uganda must be considered a wake-up call for African higher
education. Between 51% and 63% of graduates from these countries were found
to be ‘half-baked’ according to the employers. This is, to put it mildly,
alarming.
Although the study covered only five countries and robust data on
the quality of graduates in other African countries are not available,
there is a general feeling that the findings are equally applicable, in
varying degrees, to most Sub-Saharan African countries.
Warning signals
There have been previous warning signals about the quality of graduates in
Africa.
In Nigeria in 2010, the accreditation of several academic departments in
over 20 universities was withdrawn by the national regulatory body, the
National Universities Commission, on grounds of lack of infrastructure and
suitably qualified academic staff.
In 2011, the Engineers Registration Board of Kenya refused to recognise the
engineering degree from three leading public universities because of poor
curricula, lack of qualified lecturers and shortage of appropriate
facilities.
In the same year, on similar grounds, the Council of Legal Education of
Kenya rejected applications to practise law from graduates of several
public and private universities in Kenya.
In South Africa it has been reported that many law firms have found that
LLB graduates are unable ‘to draw up affidavits and pleadings as they lack
both numeracy and literacy skills’.
There are many reasons for the declining quality of graduates but the root
cause is the rapid expansion in tertiary student enrolment.
About a decade ago the tertiary enrolment ratio for Sub-Saharan Africa was
of the order of 6%, a lower value than any other world region. This was
hampering growth and development and there was no question that tertiary
enrolment had to be increased.
At the same time, expansion of the primary and secondary education sectors
resulted in an increasing number of secondary school leavers, putting
pressure on higher education institutions to meet the demand.
Responses and consequences
Responses from African countries to cope with the situation have been as
follows: i) increasing access to existing universities; ii) creating new
universities; iii) upgrading existing polytechnics and technical colleges
to university status; and iv) encouraging the establishment of private
tertiary education institutions.
Increasing access to existing public universities resulted in soaring
student enrolment without due consideration given to the absorptive
capacity of the institutions or the available resources. Governments were
unable to provide additional funds to institutions to match the increasing
number of students.
Physical facilities in most institutions became overstretched. It was
difficult to recruit new academic staff and the staff-student ratio
deteriorated. To ensure equity in access, several universities lowered
their entry requirements for targeted groups. Quality inevitably suffered.
New universities have been created in almost all African countries. In some
cases the increase has been dramatic over a short period. For example, from
2005 to 2013, the number of universities in Nigeria increased from 51 to
128, and in Ethiopia from eight to 21.
A major challenge for most of the new universities is finding appropriately
qualified lecturers. In some countries staff from existing universities
have been transferred to the new ones, further deteriorating the staffing
situation in the former.
In Ethiopia, Addis Ababa University – the oldest university – has been
charged with the daunting task of upgrading the qualifications of the new
universities. Also, many of the new universities are located in rural
areas, making it difficult for them to have access to adequate amenities
and facilities. Achieving quality has become very challenging for those
institutions.
The upgrading of polytechnics and technical colleges to university status
is another common strategy in most African countries, including South
Africa, Kenya and Ghana among others.
Although the original intention was to maintain the practical nature of the
polytechnics, inevitably ‘academic drift’ took place leading them to
function as academic universities, but of poorer quality.
Again, the academics are usually not appropriately qualified for university
teaching and students often enter the institutions with lower
qualifications than those required for established universities.
Private higher education institutions have mushroomed rapidly in all
African countries. There are now more private institutions than public ones
in Africa, and their student enrolment is fast approaching that of public
institutions. Although some very good private institutions operate in many
African countries, most are commercially motivated and of dubious quality.
Thus, every one of the measures taken to increase quantity in higher
education in Africa has led to quality being sacrificed. A direct
consequence of this has been the increasing unemployment of graduates,
which can have serious social, economic and political ramifications.
Urgent remedial action is therefore called for at institutional, national,
regional and continental levels.
Ways forward
It is clear that ensuring quality in all African higher education
institutions must now, more than ever, be considered a priority.
Over half of Sub-Saharan African countries have already established a
regulatory quality assurance agency for higher education, and the remainder
are in the process of doing so. But these are nascent bodies and face
serious challenges of lack of staff, expertise and funding.
The strategy, therefore, must be to encourage institutions to set up their
own internal quality assurance systems. This is already happening to some
extent.
The German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD, led a programme for establishing
quality assurance systems in higher education institutions in East Africa,
and has now started a similar initiative in West and Central Africa.
The African Union Commission launched an African Quality Rating Mechanism,
or AQRM, which through a questionnaire encourages institutions to assess
their own quality strengths and weaknesses.
The Association of African Universities, with the assistance of the
European University Association, undertook a project on institutional
evaluation of a few African universities using the European association’s
Institutional Evaluation Programme model.
All these are worthwhile initiatives that need to be supported and
extended.
At the same time, African governments must regard higher education as an
essential public good that needs to be provided with adequate resources to
achieve quality. They also need to exercise caution in establishing new
universities and, in particular, reconsider the strategy of upgrading
polytechnics to university status.
Higher education institutions, on their part, need to take some urgent
measures.
In addition to promoting quality institution-wide, they must establish
closer linkages with the world of work to ensure relevance of course
offerings. They should actively participate in the Tuning Africa project,
promoted jointly by the European Union and the African Union, to review
curricula by involving all stakeholders, including the employers.
Institutions also need to provide the necessary ‘soft skills’ to students
to make them employable. And they need to undertake regular graduate tracer
studies to gauge the employment of graduates.
The challenges for achieving quality in African higher education are
enormous, and need to be addressed as student enrolment will, and must,
continue to increase to meet the development needs of Africa.
But they are not insurmountable. The challenges can be overcome through
partnership and collaboration at all levels, both within and outside
Africa. It is not necessary to sacrifice quality to achieve quantity in
higher education in Africa.
Goolam Mohamedbhai is
former secretary-general of the Association of African Universities, former
president of the International Association of Universities, and former
vice-chancellor of the University of Mauritius. He is currently a higher
education consultant, including for the World Bank.
source
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20140612062302715
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