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NQF news from Mauritius and SADC region

Mauritius has embarked on higher education reforms. New universities and campuses are being built, and the Mauritian government and sector are working towards attracting 100 000 international students by 2020.

A new Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science, Research and Technology has been set up to work towards positioning Mauritius as a ‘knowledge hub’.  Activities linked to the creation of the knowledge hub include the creation of new institutions, new programmes, new infrastructural development and logistical support for international students.

The Ministry is also concluding a series of agreements with countries in the region concerning the mutual recognition of qualifications. A robust quality assurance framework has also been developed by the Tertiary Education Commission to oversee quality within the sector.

Research is another area that the country has invested in. Minister Rajesh Jeetah noted in an interview with University World News that research at the tertiary level is critical to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Therefore five national research chairs have been created and a National Research Fund of US $ 3.5 million to finance research in tertiary institutions in the country.

Meanwhile, Ministers responsible for education and training in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) approved the establishment of the SADC Regional Qualifications Framework (RQF).

The SADC RQF is expected to contribute to the efforts of developing a continental qualifications framework for mutual recognition of degrees and qualifications in higher education.

This SADC RQF will be a reference framework described by level descriptors and will include:

• quality assurance guidelines which set minimum standards for quality assurance in the SADC region
• a SADC Qualifications Portal which will incorporate full and part-time qualifications that are formally recognised in SADC member states

The SADC RQF is a ten-level framework and it will have broad level descriptors defined that will make for easy referencing as most countries in the region use a ten-level framework. The level descriptors that have been agreed upon will be further developed to include quality descriptors and qualification types. To ensure that these developments take place, member states have been tasked with translating the ten-level descriptors to their existing qualification systems.

Elements of quality assurance will also be included in the SADC RQF to ensure that there is trust, confidence and credibility. It will have agreed quality assurance guidelines which set minimum standards for quality assurance in the region. Countries will benchmark their own quality assurance systems through a process of peer review.

Sources

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20111001152158418&mode=print

http://www.saqa.org.za/show.asp?include=news/2011/sadc_framework.html