National retreat resolves to review university accreditation

The Rwanda National Leadership Retreat, also known as ‘Umwiherero’, resolved last month to assess the quality of education in higher learning institutions and review the current accreditation and licensing requirements for new ones.

Top government officials attending the four-day retreat starting on 17 February raised concerns over the quality of higher education and called for enhanced quality assessment in all higher learning institutions.

The 17th annual retreat brought together over 400 officials and experts from all fields to discuss matters of national importance, including higher education.

Officials raised concerns that despite efforts to improve the quality of education from lower primary up to tertiary level, little has been achieved.

Prime Minister Dr Édouard Ngirente expressed fears that poor education quality would have an impact on the country’s leadership capacity.

“We are concerned that we will not get people to appoint as mayors (district administrators) in the future,” he said.

Retreat participants challenged the Education Ministry to do something about the quality of higher education, even if it required shutting down universities that are not performing adequately.

Dr Rose Mukankomeje, executive director of the Higher Education Council, said effort will be put into the implementation of the resolutions.

“The assessment for existing higher learning institutions is already in the council’s action plan every year. However, more efforts will be added to ensure the effective implementation of the [resolutions of the] National Leadership Retreat,” she said.

“The quality of education is dynamic. However we cannot say that currently the quality is of a high level. That is why we will keep on working hard to ensure good quality of education is provided to our students,” Mukankomeje told University World News.

She said the council was reviewing laws and policies governing higher education, including accreditation procedures and teaching standards.

“It is true that there were gaps in the requirements for accreditation of higher learning institutions. With revised laws, policies and guidelines, this will help to ensure that the newly-accredited institutions are able to offer quality education,” she said.

According to Dr Theoneste Ndikubwimana, head of academic quality, accreditation and standards at the Higher Education Council, over 20 universities and higher learning institutions would be subject to assessment and measures would be taken after the exercise is completed.

Stakeholders said the assessment exercise should be as exhaustive as possible.

“For quality education in higher education institutions to be enhanced, there should be a focus on financial resources, human resources, the level of researchers and academic staff, and then the relevance of that combination,” said Ildephonse Nkiliye, the deputy director of the Institut Catholique de Kabgayi’s Centre of Research and Professionalisation.

Nkiliye added that for the Higher Education Council to be able to assess the implementation of the established laws and policies and other set guidelines, it should be equipped with qualified staff for regular and effective assessment.

“The council’s human resources are not enough, both in quality and quantity, and they end up outsourcing to experts who carry out the assessment in a short period and may end up missing some elements,” he told University World News.

He also questioned the rationale behind the number of private universities being founded by the faith-based organisations with similar programmes and without regard for synergy.

“Why do we have more than four Catholic universities, more Anglican-founded universities? There is a need for merger and synergy,” he said.