Harmonization of higher education programmes in Africa A strategy for the African Union.doc

AFRICAN UNION
UNION AFRICAINE
UNIÃO AFRICANA
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA P. O. Box 3243 Telephone: 251 11 5517700 Fax: 251 11 5517844
Website: .org
Validation Meeting for African Quality
Rating Mechanism and Harmonization
Strategy and for Higher education
25th to 27th March 2008
Accra, Ghana
AU/AQRM/3
Harmonization of Higher Education Programmes in Africa: A Strategy for the African Union
Summary
Contents
A Strategy to Harmonize Higher Education Programmes in Africa 1
Introduction 1
Context of Harmonization 2
Rationale for Harmonization in Higher Education 2
Specific Purpose of Harmonization 3
Goals of Harmonization 3
Principles of Harmonization 3
Proposed Result Areas for the Second Decade of Education 4
A Note on the Role of the African mission 5
Logical Framework for the AU HEP Harmonization Strategy 6
Strategy Deliverables and Budgets (2007 – 2009) 19
Deliverables 19
Budget Assumptions 21
Overall Budget 22
A Strategy to Harmonize Higher Education
Programmes in Africa
Introduction
The African Union (AU), which has a vision of integration, peace, prosperity and peerage in the munity, regards education as a key instrument in achieving its vision of developing quality human resources and contributing towards increased mobility of Africans around the continent. However, within Africa, there are many different systems of education which are based on different national or colonial and other legacies across Africa. One of the results of this is the lack of recognition of different forms of certification, and this limits African integration and the mobility of students across Africa.
The mission has therefore embarked on a process of developing a framework for harmonization of Higher Education Programmes in Africa. The rationale for this is based on the belief that such an initiative will help to foster cooperation in information exchange, harmonization of procedures and policies, attainment parability among qualifications, and possibly the