Towards Harmonising Quality Assurance for Postgraduate Training and Researching RUFORUM Member Universities

Quality assurance is key to RUFORUM’s training and research initiatives. In the East African region the IUCEA, jointly with National Commissions have developed Quality Assurance Mechanisms and Credit Accumulation Transfer frameworks largely largely targeting undergraduate training. There are plans to advance these efforts to postgraduate training, especially in Agricultural Sciences. In Southern Africa, the Higher Education Quality Management Initiative for Southern Africa has a similar approach. Currently the RUFORUM universities are jointly running six demand-driven regional PhD programmes, hosted by selected RUFORUM member universities. The design, requirements, style of delivery and expected quality of graduates require putting in place a robust quality assurance and credit accumulation and transfer System. This paper gives a summary of approach and progress by RUFORUM and specific partners to put in place a harmonized quality assurance mechanism, with initial support from the first EU-EDULINK programme. Under the project, RUFORUM and partners developed a handbook on Quality Assurance Mechanisms and Credit Accumulation and Transfer System. The draft handbook was informed by extensive reviews of the African continental quality assurance initiatives such the African Quality Assurance Network of the Association of African Universities, the European Bologna process, European Credit Transfer System, University mobility in Asia and the Pacific Transfer Scheme and others. The next plans involve operationalization of the proposed quality assurance mechanisms in the Eastern, Central and Southern Africa region