1. Background
This project follows the Erasmus Mundus project Access to Success: Fostering Trust and Exchange between Europe and Africa (2008-2010), in which the European University Association (EUA) and the Association African Universities (AAU) have been leading partners. Access to Success explored good practice in access and retention, a pressing issue for universities in both continents, capacity building partnerships models and in inter- and intraregional mobility. One concrete recommendation that has surfaced is the need to further bi-regional discussions on institutional development and quality assurance.
2. Project Objectives
- Take up a central outcome of the Access to Success project, namely the need for assessing and enhancing institutional capacity for change and for developing diverse environmentally responsive solutions in order to enable universities to deliver their full contribution to social and economic development
- Enhance international dialogue and cooperation on institutional development and quality assurance, as core elements for partnership relations between universities in Europe and Africa
- Foster exchange and networking between European and African experts in quality assurance, through mutual training exercises
- Build institutional links between African universities of different countries, and strengthen their regional perspective on the topic of quality assurance
- Promote Europe as an attractive regional partner for African universities and associations, highlighting quality assurance as a critical attribute of the European Higher Education Area
- Develop recommendations for the reorientation of universities with regards to governance, partnership with governmental agencies and relationship to quality assurance systems.
The basis for this project revolves around the methodology of the Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP), an independent EUA service that stresses institutional responsibility in defining quality and the means to achieve it. It has become a distinct European approach to quality enhancement and a flexible tool for strategic development.
3. Activities
- Institutional evaluations in five African universities in different regions of sub-Saharan Africa will be carried out as a trial application. Given the general openness and flexibility of the methodology, the idea is not to impose new QA procedures on universities in Africa, but rather to encourage them to assess their institutional goals and mission, and share good European practice in this field. (September 2011-February 2012)
- The evaluation visits, which are conducted by a team of international experts, will be proceeded by a) training workshop for experts who are part of the evaluation teams and b) a preparatory workshop for the institutions who will be evaluated, focusing specifically on how to prepare an institutional self-evaluation that will form the basis of the external evaluations. A final evaluation report will be issued for each of the 5 institutions
- The strengths and weaknesses of the exercise will be debated in a post-workshop that will invite other institutions from Europe and Africa and regional/national QA agencies and
- A final dissemination conference will discuss the success of the exercise and make recommendations for its wider application (June 2012).
4. Project Website
For more information, visit the project website: www.qaconnect-africa.eu
5. Partners
The Africa Chapter of the Erasmus Mundus Alumni Association is an associated partner
6. Contact
Elizabeth Colucci Thérèse Zhang
Supported by:
The project is carried out with the support of the Erasmus Mundus programme of the European Commission.