11th International Conference On Quality Assurance In Higher Education To Hold In Abuja - Nigeria

By Awaah Fred
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The 11th International Conference and Workshops on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa will be held from 7-11th October 2019 in Abuja, Nigeria under the theme: “Towards Sustainability of Continental Harmonization Agenda of Higher Education in Africa”. The theme seem to be in sync with recent orientations in Africa’s higher education space to place emphasis on the need to reecho the home grown strategy – the Continental Education Strategy for Africa which is the official blue print of the African Union to ensure the educational deliverables of the continent are achieved. Hitherto, the African continent largely relied on strategies from other jurisdiction with the hope of making right the higher education and research space of the continent. This orientation seem not to have achieved so much results for the continent with institutions such as the Association of African Universities, the International Network for Higher Education in Africa, and in this particular instance the Global Universities Network for Africa, Africa Quality Assurance Networks, the Okebukola Science Foundation, National Universities Commission of Nigeria, the African and Malagasy Council for Higher Education spearheading in the crusade at entrenching CESA (2016-2025) as the desired strategy for achieving Africa’s higher educational ambitions.

According to the organizers, the conference will review recent progress made in implementing harmonization initiatives in Africa and discuss future prospects for the continental harmonization initiatives, particularly with respect to strategies required in order to sustain these initiatives and also serve as a platform for the launch of the Virtual Institute for capacity building in Africa that is conceived as part of the implementation strategies of the activities of the CESA Quality Assurance sub-cluster.

The conference will attract Special Guests /Keynote Speakers in the persons of Professor Juma Shabani (Chairman, ICQAHEA) , Professor Peter A. Okebukola (President, GUNi-Africa), Professor Bertrand Mbatchi (President, AfriQAN), Professor Etienne Ehouan Ehile (Secretary-General, Association of African Universities), Professor Jonathan Chuks Mba (Director of Research & Academic Planning, AAU), Professor Nimi Briggs (Chairman of Council, Federal University, Lokoja, Nigeria), Dr. Yohannes Woldetensae (Senior Education Expert, African Union Commission), Ms Deirdre Lennan (European Commission), Professor Goski Alabi (President, Laweh Open University College, Ghana), Professor Ana Maria Nhampule, (President, National Council for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, Mozambique) and Irene Sabio Gallego European Commission.

The event will attract practitioners of higher education from across the globe and promises to be a turning point for Africa’s higher education with packages such as the main conference, workshops, general assembly of the Africa Quality Assurance Network and symposium.