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Tamale, Ghana – Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS) Professor Gabriel Ayum Teye, has urged management of African universities to adhere strictly to quality assurance measures that can be compared to those accepted globally.
Prof. Teye observed that, the dwindling allocation of state funding to universities could lax quality assurance measures instituted by universities on the continent but quick to add that the strict adherence to such measures could guarantee the universities funding from abroad.
No matter what, he said quality cannot and should never be compromised so as to guarantee quality tuition, research and the future of students from the continents universities who would be competing with others from elsewhere outside Africa on the job market.
“When we adhere to quality assurance measures in all areas of our academic work, the end result is that they will be able to compete with other graduates from other parts of the world, their certificates will be accepted wherever they go looking for job”, he stated.
Prof. Teye said these when he opened a week long workshop on Quality Assurance Knowledge and Skills for the 21st Century Higher Education Personnel on Tuesday September 2, 2018 at the UDS International Conference Centre in Tamale.
The five days’ workshop which is being organized by the Association of African Universities (AAU) is attended by directors of quality assurance of various universities in Gambia, Zambia, Somaliland, Ghana and Nigeria among others.
The workshop seeks to, among other things, promote the quality of higher education in Africa through improving the knowledge and skills or competencies for all higher education personnel.
Secretary-General of the AAU Prof. Etienne Ehile in a speech read for him, underscored the fact that no nation could progress sustainably without a contribution from its higher education sector which should provide the needed good quality education to sustain socio-economic development in a country and the African continent at large.
As the poorest continent, he said Africa needed to revive its higher education systems to produce home-grown solutions to overcome its myriad of developmental challenges.
“Some African tertiary institutions produce graduates who are not fully trained for the world of work. Generally, proper teaching with relevant research that focuses and attach emphasis on the issue of quality assurance helps a lot in improving the graduate quality and our socio-economic status”, he emphasized.
The mission of the AAU is to raise the quality of higher education in Africa and strengthen its contribution to Africa’s development by fostering collaboration among its members, providing support to its member universities’ core functions of teaching, learning, research and community engagement and facilitating critical reflection on, and consensus building around issues affecting higher education and the development of Africa through various networking events.
The AAU has a membership of more than 400 higher education institutions, spread across all five regions of the continent of Africa. Currently, the AAU has been appointed by the African Union Commission as the Coordinator of the Continental Education Strategy for African Higher Education from 2016 to 2025.
Savannahnewsonline.com/Philip Liebs
