East African higher Education Quality Assurance Network Forum currently underway in Bujumbura, Burundi
Bujumbura, Burundi, 8th September, 2023: The 12th Annual East African Higher Education Quality Assurance Forum (EAQAN) is currently underway in Bujumbura, Burundi under the theme: “Nurturing Emerging Trends in Higher Education through quality Assurance”.
The Forum, which kicked off on 5th September, 2023, provides an opportunity to higher education professionals, experts and other stakeholders in East African Community to reflect on the place of quality assurance in nurturing emerging trends in higher education not only in the region, but the continent and beyond.
The conference being attended by Heads of National Commissions and Councils for Higher Education, Vice Chancellors, other higher education managers, quality assurance coordinators and partitioners, higher education development partners and other invited experts who presented the results of their research on various topics including transformative teaching and learning in higher education, programme accreditation, competence-based education, ethics in online delivery, role of Quality Assurance in research and innovation in higher education among others.
“I am glad to learn that the forum has been organized in a such a way that, apart from discussions, we will also have a room for experience sharing, good practices excursions, benchmarking, reflections and networking, with a focus to give higher education an opportunity to reflect on the place of quality assurance in higher education” said Prof. Frederic Bangirinama, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research, Burundi.
“As the Inter-University Council for East Africa, we believe in the potential power of networks like the East African Higher Education Quality Assurance Network as a tool to advance a common agenda. Their roles can widely vary but their collective impact is significant in driving positive change and addressing complex challenges like the ones the region is currently facing as we forge our way to improve quality education and build a more resilient and competitive EAC higher education,” said Prof. Banyankimbona.
The Keynote Speaker, Prof. Mike Kuria, the Chief Executive Officer, Commission for University Education, Kenya challenged the participants to reflect on the place of the current Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) systems in higher education institutions in responding to the emerging issues in higher education including the issue of Artificial Intelligence, even as he warned higher education policy makers and managers on the Africa’s youth Bulge,
“They can be Gold at the bottom if well skilled and employed or employable or they can be ticking time bomb if wrongly skilled and thus unemployed and unemployable,” said Prof. Kuria.
“The 12th EAQAN forum is expected to come up with sound recommendations and statements of commitment from higher education quality assurance practitioners and higher education managers to not only confront challenges that impede the achievement of the goal to establish and maintain quality assurance in higher education, but also constraints that hinder desired transformations in higher education,” said Dr. Baguma Abdallah, President of EAQAN.
For more Information contact:
Gai Peter Manyuon,
Public Relations and Corporate Communications Officer,
Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA).
Tel: 256 414 256 251/2
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.iucea.org
About IUCEA
The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) is an institution of the East African Community established by the IUCEA Protocol, 2002 and the IUCEA Act, 2009. Its mandate is to advise the East African Community (EAC) Partner States on higher education matters to contribute to the strategic development of higher education and research in the region. IUCEA is a member-based institution that facilitates networking among universities and other degree-awarding institutions by providing a forum for discussion on a wide range of academic and other matters relating to higher education
Tags: IUCEA, Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA)