Sector commits to internal quality assurance processes

Universities and other higher learning institutions in Rwanda have been challenged to pursue quality and steer clear of anything that can detract them from this goal.

The call was made during a three-day retreat in mid-November that brought together all stakeholders in the sector, including officials from the Higher Education Council and the Rwanda Ministry of Education.

The meeting, which took place in the Eastern province district of Rwamagana, focused on what the sector can do to boost the quality of education, which has been a concern.

It focused on the process of internal quality assurance aimed at enhancing the awareness and capacity of quality assurance managers, academic registrars and university managers on ‘The role of internal quality assurance in innovative teaching and learning in higher education’.

There are about 40 universities and higher learning institutions in Rwanda, the majority of them private. During the past three years, the ministry of education closed 10 universities over quality problems.

Universities and higher learning institutions have been faulted for hiring inadequate staff, having insufficient and inadequate training facilities and poor financial management, among other problems.

In 2020, four other universities were closed over their failure to meet the minimum requirements to operate on Rwandan soil.

Initially, they were the Christian University of Rwanda, the University of Kibungo, KIM University, Indangaburezi College of Education and the University of Gitwe. The University of Gitwe was later allowed to resume courses after it fulfilled the requirements, according to the Higher Education Council.

And, in 2017, the government permanently closed five private institutions of higher learning in the country over inadequate staffing and the lack of enough training facilities, among other requirements.

The closed universities included Sinhgad Technical Education Society-Rwanda, Rusizi International University, Nile Source Polytechnic of Applied Arts in Huye District, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, and the Open University of Tanzania that was operating in the Ngoma district.

Focus on internal quality

According to Dr Rose Mukankomeje, the director general of the Higher Education Council, a regulator for all higher learning institutions, the time has come for all institutions to enhance internal quality assurance processes and to work hard to strive for quality education.

Universities are offering some programmes without enough experts, the participants noted, adding that there is much reliance on students as the only source of income.

Universities, they said, have a high student-staff ratio which affects course delivery and the expected quality of education as there are ‘quality-quantity conflicts’.

“We discussed several issues affecting the quality of education in higher learning institutions and universities and how we can work together to improve it,” said Mukankomeje.

“Internal quality assurance managers should ensure that the universities enrol [academically] qualified students only and lecturers dispense courses in better ways to produce skilled students. Some universities enrol as many students as they can to generate a lot of money, which compromises the quality of education,” she pointed out.

She said that the universities have also learned how they can recruit competent lecturers and replace those who leave as soon as possible.

“We also agreed that quality assurance managers should do daily supervision on the learning and teaching process.

“Universities should also look at the recruitment of teaching and administrative staff. Some universities do not have qualified staff but we all agreed that it is not due to a lack of funds – they just want to hire less expensive staff,” she added.

Rwanda aspires to build a knowledge-based economy and universities should produce skilled students if the mission is to be achieved, officials said.

Universities commit to quality

Universities and higher learning institutions have praised the Higher Education Council for organising the retreat, saying that it reminded them of their responsibility to produce quality and skilled graduates who can contribute to national development.

Professor Emmanuel Cyeze, the director of quality assurance at the Adventist University of Central Africa, said that, while universities and higher learning institutions should comply with laws and regulations set to ensure the quality of education, some have disregarded them and the quality has been compromised.

“We have benefited a lot as [this] training awakened all of us. We need to enhance the quality of education we offer in our respective universities. We will strive to implement all the resolutions taken from the retreat,” he noted.

A ministry of education tracer survey report released in 2019 revealed that graduates from both technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions and universities lacked additional skills and professional experience. Entrepreneurial and business skills were also limited.

The report revealed that the TVET programmes were at 50% while the general employment rate for university graduates (mainstream) was 63.4%. The underemployment figure for TVET graduates was 39.5%, compared to 18.5% for higher learning institutions.

The survey found that the employer satisfaction rate was at 78.2% and 74.6% for graduates from higher learning institutions and TVETs, respectively.