16 Oct 2013

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is developing a qualifications framework for member states towards standardisation of educational standards, especially the harmonisation of open and distance learning.

Ms Grace Muzila, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, said in an interview that this development would ensure that education contributed towards regional integration.

Ms Muzila said although many SADC countries had open and distance learning programmes, their qualifications were not standardised. As a result, a person attaining a qualification in one country was not automatically rated as a holder of the same qualification in another country.

She explained that developing a regional qualification framework would ensure that countries worked with the same curriculum standards towards qualifications that would be considered to be the same in value and rating throughout SADC.

The qualifications framework would encourage collaboration among SADC institutions, meaning that universities would share information, programmes and systems because of the standardisation emanating from the qualifications framework.

Prof. Primrose Kurasha, the chairperson of the Distance Education Association of Southern Africa, said strengthening collaboration in open and distance learning for sustainable development in the SADC region had many benefits.

“Distance education alliances allow institutions to embark on exciting new paths in higher education that enhance their credibility and expand their outreach while simultaneously generating a new source of income for their programmes,” she said in an interview.

The SADC Draft Regional Open Distance Learning Strategic Plan says the SADC vision is one of a common future in a regional community that will ensure the SADC mission, Article 5 of the SADC treaty is achieved.

The treaty aims to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth and socio economic development through efficient productive systems, deeper cooperation and integration, good governance and durable peace and security so that the SADC region emerges as a competitive and effective player in the world economy and international relations.

According to the treaty, the main goal of SADC‘s integration agenda in the human resources development area is to increase the availability of educated and highly skilled personnel through equivalent and harmonised education and training systems of member states, hence the urgent need for a regional qualifications framework.

Although open and distance learning programmes have been delivered in some SADC countries for nearly 60 years, they were not harmonised in terms of design, curricula, resource allocation, delivery, quality assurance and other aspects.

In order to harmonise open and distance learning programmes, the SADC secretariat, with financial support from the African Development Bank, facilitated the development of a Regional Open and Distance Learning Policy framework which had become the bedrock of the desired harmonisation.

Mr Thulaganyo Thutoetsile, the Coordinator of SADC Open and Distance Learning, said the growing open and distance learning phenomenon in SADC necessitates harmonised provision of quality education and skills development programmes.

Mr Thutoetsile said there would be improved knowledge and adoption of best practices in all aspects of research based on open and distance learning, enhanced education and employment opportunities for open and distance learning graduates at various levels, improved open and distance learning programmes, efficient delivery of open and distance learning programmes and increased graduates of open and distance learning programmes if member states cooperated.

He said the qualifications framework would help SADC countries in their endeavour to develop and deploy open and distance learning effectively within the broader aim of achieving increased access to quality education and in the process support regional integration which remains the bigger picture for SADC. Ends