AFRICA
New Arusha convention sparks hopes for degree mobility
The recognition – or not – of qualifications when a student moves from one country to another has long caused headaches in the academic world and hampered the mobility of students, especially in developing or middle-income countries. UNESCO believes there was a breakthrough for Africa last December when 16 countries signed an amended version of the ‘Arusha Convention’ on the recognition of qualifications across the continent.The UN agency had organised what officials declared was a “very successful” international conference of states in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to adopt the revised text of the 1981 convention that for three decades has largely failed in its mobility-promoting purpose.
Qualifications harmonisation is a problem that governments and institutions alike recognise, and some African states have been taking new steps to address the issue.
Forty-one African countries participated and 16 countries signed the amended text at the conference, according to officials.
“We are very proud of this achievement for the very positive impact that this development will have in facilitating mobility of students, faculty and researchers within the region,” said Paulina Gonzalez-Pose, chief of UNESCO’s Section for Higher Education.
Experts at the organisation said that other African governments are examining the revised convention and will most likely sign it.
Why so slow?
But with African students being among the most mobile in the world, a burning question is why the pace of regional harmonisation is so slow.
The original Arusha Convention was adopted more than 30 years ago by ministers of education in Arusha, Tanzania, to promote academic mobility and international and regional cooperation.
The full title of that agreement was the “Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Certificates, Diplomas, Degrees and Other Academic Qualifications in Higher Education in the African States”.
But between December 1981, when the Tanzania meeting took place, and 2002, only 21 UNESCO member states in Africa – in addition to the Holy See – had ratified the convention.
The UN and the intergovernmental Commonwealth of Learning then embarked on a revision process with a view to establishing accepted regional standards.
For the past seven years, UNESCO and the African Union Commission have jointly overseen the process, after the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union adopted the African Union’s higher education harmonisation strategy.
At the meeting in Addis Ababa last December, representatives further agreed on the necessity of special initiatives that are more responsive to student needs.
UNESCO officials told University World News that the revised convention includes the following:
- • A shift in favour of applicants for recognition by entitling them to fair recognition of their qualifications within a reasonable time limit, according to transparent, coherent and reliable procedures.
- • The view that recognition should be granted unless substantial differences can be shown.
- • The importance of information and networking at the expert level, in particular through national information centres.
- • The need to develop codes of good practice or recommendations and guidelines, in addition to a solid legal framework.
Also needed is the development of an African Credit Transfer and Accumulation System – like the equivalent in Europe, called ECTS – and the creation of a “continental online observatory on accreditation, quality assurance and recognition of qualifications”.
Liliana Simionescu, programme specialist in UNESCO’s Section for Higher Education, told University World News that since the meeting, many countries “have been enquiring about the process to sign the revised convention”, and that UNESCO “was following up” with the countries concerned.
The organisation said the 16 states that have so far signed the revised convention are: Burundi, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, the Holy See, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo and Uganda.
African student mobility
According to UN statistics, tertiary students from Sub-Saharan Africa “are the second most mobile in the world”, after students from Central Asia. About one in every 16 African students, or 5.6%, studies abroad, says the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, or UIS.
This can be compared with figures for North America, where 1.4% of students go abroad for study, the UNESCO institute states.
In a 2014 survey, UIS said that the rise in internationally mobile students “reflects growing university enrolment around the world”.
In 2012, at least four million students went abroad to study – up from two million in 2000 – representing 1.8% of all tertiary enrolments, or two in every 100 students globally.
Staying closer to home
In contrast to the findings of past surveys, students from Sub-Saharan Africa are shown to be staying “closer to home”. Although 288,200 students studied abroad in 2012, up from 204,900 in 2003, the “outbound mobility ratio” in the region has fallen from 6% to 4.5%, according to the latest figures.
In 2012, South Africa attracted 22% of mobile students from Sub-Saharan Africa, and Uganda and Ghana are hosting “more students from the region than ever before”.
“The shift suggests that domestic higher education systems are expanding steadily,” the institute noted.
This view can be compared with 2006, when the assessment was that most African students “have no choice but to go abroad because of limited access to domestic universities or the poor quality of instruction”.
For those who leave the region, the top destination is Western Europe, with France and the United Kingdom being the main countries.
Harmonisation at both regional and international levels is crucial as the world prepares for the post-2015 development agenda, say education experts.
“In today’s increasingly globalised world, there have to be mechanisms to facilitate the mobility of students and faculty,” Simionescu told University World News.
“The revised convention takes into account developments in higher education and is in line with other regional agreements.”
She said the new moves were aimed at ensuring that a number of principles were adopted and that “a fair recognition of qualifications is granted to applicants within a reasonable time limit”.
Most importantly, this should be done according to “transparent, coherent and reliable procedures”, she added.
A matter of equality
For education experts, recognition of diplomas is also an issue of equality, as not only those who attend internationally rated universities – with their own bilateral agreements – should have their qualifications recognised.
In other parts of the convention, UNESCO and African leaders can point to advances in the field of quality assurance on the continent.
In 2004, for instance, there were fewer than six national quality assurance agencies across Africa.
By last year, the number had increased to 23 and the agencies had “improved their processes for assuring quality even in the face of increased numbers of institutions, programmes and students”, according to data from the 6th International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, which took place in Bujumbura, Burundi, last September.
That conference, financed by the European Union, was co-organised by the Association of African Universities, the Global University Network for Innovation and other bodies, showing the attention being paid to the issue, educators say.
The organisers stated that 2015 would be “remarkable in a number of respects” as it is the “end-point year for the African Union Second Decade of Education (2006-2015)”, as well as the target year for the Millennium Development Goals.
It is also the year of the next World Education Forum, which will be held from 19-22 May in Incheon, Republic of Korea, and when the revised Arusha Convention is expected to pick up swing for ratification, domestication and implementation.