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REPORT ON THE UNESCO PORTAL ON RECOGNISED HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

(PILOT PROJECT)

RISPA A. ODONGOSENIOR ASSISTANT COMMISSION SECRETARY

COMMISSION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION (KENYA)

13-14 SEPTEMBER 2007DAR ES SAALAM, TANZANIA

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

• Since the late 1980s the demand for higher education has increased rapidly with consequent increase in the number of higher education institutions and student enrolment.

• Cross-border higher education through mobility of students, academic staff, programmes/institutions and professionals has also grown considerably.

• At the same time, new delivery modes and cross border providers have emerged, such as campuses abroad, electronic delivery of higher education and “for-profit” providers.

• These new forms of cross-border higher education offer increased opportunities for improving the skills of and competence of individual students and the quality of national higher education systems, provided they aim at benefiting the human, social, economic and cultural development of the receiving country.

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2.0 GUIDELINES FOR QUALITY PROVISION IN CROSS-BORDER HIGHER EDUCATION

The foregoing developments, however, present challenges for students, national quality assurance and accrediting framework and bodies, as well as for systems for recognising foreign qualifications and other stakeholders. These include:

• Risks of students falling victim to misleading guidance and information, disreputable providers, dubious quality assurance and accrediting bodies, low quality provision, leading to quality of limited validity;

• Cross-border higher education provider may deliver qualifications that are not of comparable quality to those which they offer in their home countries;

• The increased need to obtain national recognition of foreign qualifications has posed challenges to national recognition bodies. This in turn, at times, leads to administrative and legal problems for the individuals concerned.

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• Professions depend on trustworthy institutions and qualifications. It is essential that users of professional services including employers have full confidence in the skills of qualified professionals. The increasing possibility of obtaining low-quality qualifications could harm the professions themselves, and might in the long run undermine confidence in professional qualifications.

• UNECSO and OECD, and other international agencies, in collaboration with quality assurance agencies and educational providers developed “Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education”.

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• The purpose of the Guidelines is to assist member states in assessing the quality and relevance of higher education provided across borders and to protect students and other stake holders in higher education from low-quality higher education provision.

• As a follow up on the Guidelines, there was need to create a Website for recognised higher educations institutions in the world to assist students and other stakeholders in making informed choices, hence UNESCO Portal on Recognised Higher EducationInstitutions.

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3.0 UNESCO PORTAL ON RECOGNISED HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

• UNESCO is developing a Portal (Website) on Recognised Higher Education Institutions. The Portal involves with 18 participating countries (Pilot Project).

• The Project is a complement to the Guidelines for Quality Provision on Cross-Boarder Higher Education, which was implemented within the framework of UNESCO’s regular programme activities in higher education for 2006-2007.

• The 18 participating countries have met two times (Steering Group Committee). The First Steering Group Meeting was held on 13 to 14 November 2006.

• The Second Meeting Of the Steering Group of the UNESCO Portal on Recognised Higher Education Institutions. The meeting took place in UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France between 19 to 20 March 2007.

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3.1 Objective of the Portal• The project aims at establishing a Website (Portal) through which

students and other stakeholders in higher education can access authoritative information on recognized institutions and academic programmes in pilot countries.

• Students planning to study in other countries other than their own are the primary target audience for the Portal. Its main purpose is, therefore, to provide access to information that will assist them in making informed decisions, and to links that are deemed reliablebecause it is provided by competent authorities.

• Resources provided by the Portal will also be useful to other audience, for example, foreign credential evaluators.

• It is required that each country should develop a website / Home information Page with searchable database on relevant information on higher education.

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3.2 Participating Countries

There are 18 countries participating in the PilotProject. The countries are (in alphabetical order): • Argentina;• Australia;• Canada;• China;• Denmark;• Egypt;• India;• Jamaica;• Japan;

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• Kenya;• Malaysia;• Nigeria;• Norway;• Republic of Korea;• Sweden;• Switzerland;• United Kingdom of Great Britain; and• United States of America.It was expected that the Portal would be launched in thefall of 2007.

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Other Participating BodiesApart from the pilot countries the following organizations are involved in the development of the Portal:

• South African Institute of Open Learning;• INQAAHE; • International Association of Universities;• OECD; • University Council of Jamaica;• UNESCO Beirut; • UNESCO Dakar; and • UNESCO Secretariat, Paris, the coordinator.

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3.3 UNESCO Country Home Pages on Portal on Recognised Higher Education

Each Country will have its Home Page within UNESCO Portal on Higher Education.• This Portal will offer access to on-line information on

higher education institutions recognized or otherwise sanctioned by competent authorities of participating countries. It will provide students, employers and other interested parties with access to authoritative and up-to-date information on the status of higher education institutions in these countries.

• Currently, information can be accessed on the 18 participating countries: Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, India, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. In the next stage of the project, the number of countries covered will be expanded.

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• The country information on the portal will be managed and updated by relevant authorities in participating countries. More information on the national processes for recognizing or otherwise sanctioning institutions will be available on the country pages.

• Users will, however, be encouraged to consult several sources of information before making important decisions regarding matters such as the choice of an institution, course of study or the status of qualifications.

• Individuals wishing to have their qualifications recognized for work or further study will be advised to consult the competent authorities of the country in which they are seeking to have their qualifications recognized.

• It is also important to note that some institutions not on the national lists may offer quality programmes. Users will be encouraged to contact the national contact point for each country, if necessary, for further information.

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The Portal will restrict itself to providing links to resourcesmaintained by competent authorities as specified by the country. It will not duplicate or centralize resources.However Each country will decide which:

• Resources to make available through the Portal;• The Body responsible for the information; and • The designated contact point for all matters and issues

related to that country’s information page in the Portal, including co-ordination of tasks, link collection and content update.

UNESCO will also have a designated contact who will be the person countries will turn to for all matters and issuesrelated to Country Information Pages.

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3.4 Information in Country Home PagesThe Template Country Information Pages will include at least thefollowing ten (10) issues:

• Higher education institutions recognized by competent authorities;• Higher education programmes recognized by competent

authorities;• Information for student (foreign) planning to study in the country;• Information on higher education systems;• Information on foreign credentials assessment and recognition;• Information on financial assistance opportunities;• Cross-border higher education;• National information centre;• Other information sources; and• Definition of key terms.

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The first phase of the project is concentrating on recognized higher education institutions. Allparticipating countries should have had their home pages populated by end of July 2007.

3.5 Capacity Building

UNESCO had received some donations towards the project to assist participating countries in developingtheir Home Pages. Assistance is in the form of technical and financial assistance.

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3.6.0 Raising Awareness

In order to promote the use of the Portal on recognisedhigher education institutions when it is launched, a preliminary list of promotion of international and

national strategies has been drawn up.

These include both international and national strategies

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3.6.1 International strategies suggested include:

• Advertising the launch and major milestones of the Portal in international publications;

• Indexation of Website;• Promotion on the UNESCO Portal through UNESCO

field offices involved in the project;• Preparing a mailing list to student bodies informing

them of the development and updates of the Portal;• Featuring the Portal on the website of international

bodies dealing with issues such as higher education in general, student services, quality assurance, lifelong learning etc.;

• Advertising the Portal in international publications, newspapers or magazines or site targeting students.

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3.6.2 National strategies suggested include:

• Advertising the launch and major milestones of the Portal in national publications;

• Presentations of the Portal by student representatives on internet, national radios and/or television programme; and

• Awareness raising and advocacy by Governments of the Portal as a reliable source of information.

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3.7 Monitoring and Evaluation

• The proposed focus of the monitoring and evaluation component of the pilot project is to monitor its results against its expected outcomes and to evaluate its overall outputs at the completion of its pilot phase. Each participating country and the UNESCO Secretariat will be required to submit one Interim Report and a Final Report by October 2007.

• The format for both the interim report and the final report are as follows:

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3.7.1 Format for Interim Report – to include:

• Work Plan objectives based on the Portal Project “Draft Action Line and Timeframe”;

• Any problems encountered and action taken;

• Any help or feedback from Secretariat or other participating countries; and

• Suggestions for improvements / modifications to work plan.

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3.7.2 Format for Final Report – to include:

• Work plan and budget;• Development of the country pages;• Capacity building;• Public information awareness raising;• Sustainability;• Problems; and• Follow up.

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3.8 Action Line / TimeframeThe following Action Line / Timeframes were adopted:• UNESCO to send Project Proposal Form to participating

countries by end of the week (19 -23 March).• Submission of Proposal on Needs Assessment for

capacity building by participating countries by first week of April 2007.

• Country Home pages to be populated by end of July 2007.

• Submission of official competent body responsible for recognition of higher education institutions to UNESCO by participating countries by July 2007.

• Testing of portal by a group of students in each participating country by September 2007.

• Evaluation to be done by October 2007.• Next Meeting by November 2007.

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Glossary

UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

OECD - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

INQUAAHE - International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education