The third phase of the initiative “Harmonisation, Quality Assurance and Accreditation in African Higher Education” (HAQAA) is a robust response of the European and African Union’s aim to provide African countries with the skilled workers, managers and administrators they need to foster sustainable development and encourage trade and investment as well as to enhance citizenship and democratic values. 

HAQAA3 (2023-2028) will build on the results of the first and second phase. For the implementation of the third phase, the DAAD is collaborating with an international consortium made up of the following partners: the Association of African Universities  (AAU), the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and OBREAL (consortium leader).

Objectives

General Objective 

The Overall Objective of this action is to provide African countries with the skilled workers, managers and administrators they need to foster sustainable development and encourage the trade and investment as well as to enhance citizenship and democratic values.

Specific Objectives

1. Quality assurance (QA) culture and quality enhancement in higher education institutions and capacities of quality assurance agencies and national/regional authorities are strengthened to develop, implement and use transparency tools such as the African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ASG-QA) and African Credit Transfer System (ACTS).
2. The capacities of quality assurance agencies and national/regional authorities are strengthened to promote mutual recognition of qualifications and accreditation, use of transparency tools and the setup of the PAQAA (Pan-African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency) is further developed.
3. The capacity of the higher education sector (including policy makers) on issues related to evidence based and informed policy making and regional integration is built, with a view to strengthen regional and continental integration, enhance the sector’s responsiveness and contribution to socio-economic challenges and to support the revision/extension of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2016-2025.

Policy Context 

HAQAA3 is part of the The Youth Mobility for Africa  flagship initiative which is part of the Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package. 

 
WHAT IS THE YOUTH MOBILITY FOR AFRICA FLAGSHIP INITIATIVE?

The flagship initiative on Youth Mobility for Africa promotes opportunities for learning mobility on the continent and between Africa and the EU. It supports cooperation in higher education and skills development, strengthens regional and continental harmonisation mechanisms, while promoting Africa as a study destination. Thereby, the initiative contributes to youth empowerment for sustainable employability and active citizenship. The Youth Mobility for Africa flagship initiative is part of the Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package.   

 

Role of the DAAD

The DAAD is responsible for the work area “CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRAINING FOR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE”
The work area “Capacity Building and training for IQA and EQA” offers continental training courses to EQA and IQA professionals, as well as HEI leadership and students, regarding continental tools and frameworks and how to build quality culture according to African standards. It also nurtures a growing pool of HAQAA ambassadors.

The main outputs for this work area are as follows:

• Training of HEI professionals: HAQAA3 will train 140 Higher Education Institution (HEI) professionals at universities, equipping them with expertise in regional integration in higher education. Specifically, HAQAA3 will focus on training them to manage internal quality assurance (IQA) processes and apply continental tools and frameworks to improve educational standards.
• Sensitising university vice-chancellors: HAQAA3 will sensitise 70 university vice chancellors on quality management, strategic positioning, and the importance of continental goals for integration.
• Training of quality assurance agencies and authorities: HAQAA3 efforts will extend to training 90 staff from QA agencies and authorities in regional integration in higher education, external quality assurance (EQA), continental tools, frameworks, and self-assessment practices.
• Capacity building of student representatives: HAQAA3 will train 70-100 student representatives in quality assurance practices and external evaluation of higher education institutions and quality assurance agencies.
• Dissemination projects: HAQAA3 will implement dissemination projects led by HAQAA3 training graduates, resulting in the training of a further 200-250 QA professionals across Africa.

Contact: 

Sarah Lang, Project Lead
DAAD - German Academic Exchange Service
Development Cooperation: Partnership Programmes, Alumni Projects and Higher Education Management / P32
+49 (228) 882-166
lang@daad.de

 

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