Qualifications authority bill goes to parliament

The government has drafted a bill seeking to form a Kenya Qualifications Authority, which will be charged with regulating and standardising all qualifications awarded by universities and colleges.

The new authority will take over qualifications tasks currently performed by the Commission for University Education, or CUE.

"The purpose of this bill is to establish a framework for the recognition and standardisation of qualifications attained in institutions within and outside Kenya," said Aden Duale, majority leader in parliament, on tabling the bill this month.

If passed, the Kenya Qualifications Framework Bill 2013 will also facilitate development of an accreditation system for degree certificates awarded by universities and work to eliminate unrecognised and fake certificates.

According to the bill, the aims are to "establish standards for recognising qualifications obtained in and outside Kenya, strengthen the national quality assurance systems, align qualifications obtained in Kenya with global standards in order to promote national and transnational mobility of workers, and develop a system of competence, lifelong learning and attainment of national qualifications".

The functions of the Kenya Qualifications Authority will include developing policies on qualifications, a framework for accreditation of qualifications and a system for assessing them.

Other functions will include maintaining a national database of qualifications, publishing codes and guidelines, producing an annual report on the status of qualifications, and establishing and reviewing interrelationships and linkages across national qualifications in consultation with stakeholders.

The authority will also be empowered to establish partnerships with groups outside Kenya to promote the purposes of its work.

It will be led by a director-general and a council headed by a chair appointed by the cabinet secretary for education with six other members including representatives drawn from CUE, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority and the Education Standards Assurance Council of the ministry of education.

The proposed law comes at time when Kenya has seen tremendous expansion in higher education, with more than 20 public and private universities accredited in the past two years. Numerous private middle-level colleges have also sprung up across the East African country.

Private middle-level colleges and universities are likely to be most affected when the bill becomes law, owing to the diverse range of diploma, certificate and degree courses they have introduced.

It is hoped that the new law will eliminate the frequent controversies that arise over the qualifications of people seeking high-profile public and political jobs. Ahead of the 2013 elections, several candidates for political office had their qualifications rejected by CUE.