The Main Action Lines of the Pan African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Framework (PAQAF)

1. Stakeholder Consultation Workshop on the African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ASG-QA) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (16 – 17 November 2017) The Main Action Lines of the Pan African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Framework (PAQAF) Presented by Dr. Yohannes Woldetensae Senior Education Expert African Union Commission 1

2. Introduction • The AUC has initiated the development of PAQAF in collaboration with the EC and the AAU • The PAQAF was developed through a consultative process, and validated at a continental workshop involving representatives of universities, national & regional QA agencies, and education ministries • The validated PAQAF was endorsed by Ministers of Education, Science & Technology, and adopted by the AU Assembly at the 2016 January Summit • The validated PAQAF is useful and instrumental to establish harmonised quality assurancein Africa

3. - PAQAF -Pan African QA and Accreditation Framework Instruments • African Standards and Guidelines for QA • Continental Qualifications Framework • African Quality Rating Mechanism • Addis Convention • African Credit Accumulation and Transfer System • Continental Register for QA agencies and quality assured higher education institutions Implementing Agency A Pan-African QA and Accreditation Agency

4. Pan African QA and Accreditation Agency General Mandate: • Coordinate, promote, and facilitate harmonisation of QA and accreditation systems in Africa as well as being the lead Agency of the continent in QA, quality enhancement and accreditation Roles/Functions: • Set standards and guidelines for a continental QA and accreditation system, including ODeL • Oversee the implementation of these standards & guidelines in the national and regional systems

5. Pan African QA and Accreditation Agency Roles/Functions: • Encourage and support global competitiveness of African universities • Develop a continental qualifications framework, aligned with national and regional frameworks • Support capacity building in QA • Promote, document, and disseminate good practices in QA and quality enhancement • Develop continental peer review system • Accredit the Pan African University according to the PAQAF principles

6. Pan African QA and Accreditation Agency Roles/Functions: • Facilitate collaboration and networking between national and regional QA/accreditation agencies • Develop a website for information sharing • Set up and maintain a register for QA agencies and a database of experienced peer reviewers • Integrate AQRM as a continental mechanism • Establish a Secretariat including its operational structure • Set up a governance structure

7. Main Action Lines of PAQAF • initiate organizational set-up and legal framework of a Continental Accreditation Agency • Finalise the development of African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance • Advance the draft proposal of Tuning project on credit transfer as basis for developing an African Credit Transfer System • Further develop on-line Tool of AQRM by the AAU for full scale implementation in African Universities • Initiate the development of an African Continental Qualifications Frameworkbased on existing national and regional qualifications frameworks

8. AUC Harmonisation and QA Initiatives ASG-QA HAQAA Initiative AQRM QAA Capacity REGISTER P A Q A F Academic Mobility ADDIS CONVENTION H A R M O N I S A T I O N Nyerere Scholarship ACQF TUNING ACTS CESA Agenda 2063 Continental Accreditation Agency