UNIVERSITIES IN EAST AFRICA TO HARMONIZE THEIR CURRICULA AND ADMISSION PROCEDURES

THE STANDARD
NAIROBI KENYA
OCTOBER 14 2008

By Lucciane Limo
University education in East Africa will soon be harmonised.Commission for Higher Education Secretary Everett Standa said the move would allow students to transfer credits between private and public universities in the region.

A draft curriculum for selected programmes in agriculture, engineering, medicine and basic sciences is complete.Prof Standa said students studying these subjects would be at liberty to roam between any university in the region, beginning December.

Commission for Higher Education Secretary Everett Standa speaks to the media at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies, on Monday, after attending a workshop on the Credit Accumulation and Transfer System Project.

"A student pursuing agriculture at University of Nairobi, for example, can decide to carry credit on the programme to Makerere University for a semester or an academic year without any problem," he said.

The Credit Accumulation and Transfer System Project will harmonise curriculum in various disciplines to enhance mobility of students.The idea was mooted last year by Kenya’s Commission of Higher Education, Uganda’s National Council of Higher Education and Tanzania’s Commission for Universities.

PILOT PHASE

Standa said the pilot phase of the project succeed, students pursuing other disciplines could soon study at university within the region. He spoke after the opening of the Credit Accumulation and Transfer System workshop at Kenya School of Monetary Studies.The workshop brought together experts to review work on the project.

Science and Technology PS Crispus Kiamba said the initiative would not only enhance student mobility but lead to the creation of an East African Higher Education Area.
"Such a regional higher education entity will remove other barriers to student mobility such as students visas. Our university education system will also gain international recognition and acceptance,"Kiamba noted, in a speech read by Standa.

Kiamba said the programme would obviously face challenges on quality assurance, affordability, security and relevance.
"Provision of curricula with common guidelines and minimum standards will only serve as an academic visa," said Kiamba.

Quality assurance, he noted, will determine whether students would take advantage of opportunities for cross-border education.