Technical Working group for the development of the Continental Agency

The Technical Working Group (TWG) for the development of the Continental Agency is endorsed by the African Union Commission (AUC) and tasked with assessing scenarios for its development and helping the AUC in defining the mandate, establishment plan and organisational set-up. The group comprises of experts with the following expert profiles representing the five African regions:

Experts 1: A research profile, familiar with the continental harmonisation and the AU political agenda for higher education in Africa. Ideally this person will have contributed to a previous feasibility study that has been done, for example on the PAQAF (2015): The TWG member lead the feasibility study (Co-chairs); Expert 2: A legal profile, familiar with AU policy making and legalities and the establishment of previous AU entities or bodies. This individual advises on the legal considerations of the set‐up of the Agency (African); Expert 3: A political representative of at least one of the African economic communities. This person is in charge of ensuring consistency with the objectives of the regional communities in Africa and generating their endorsement (African); Expert 4: A representative of a long‐established African national QA agency, who advises on the mandate and ensure complementary with national QA regulatory bodies; Expert 5: A leader of a higher education institution or association, with experience in continental cooperation, as well as technical knowledge of both EQA and IQA; Experts 6: An expert on the existing PAQAF actions lines and tools (especially the ASG‐QA, but also the AQRM and the Addis Convention) (African) and Expert 7: A European expert with experience in the EHEA, the ESG, agency review and the set‐ up of the EQAR (European Quality Assurance Register).

 

Tasks of the TWG include:

  • Refining the scope for the feasibility study and conducting it;
  • Presenting the findings to the AB and debating their implications/generating recommendations for the set-up of the agency;
  • Presenting the findings in the context of CESA meetings and debating their implications/generating recommendations for the set-up of the agency;
  • Interpreting the results of an online consultation regarding the Agency for both awareness raising and to generate further feedback;
  • Developing a final report for the AUC with recommendations for the set-up of the agency, including a set-up plan and potential draft statutes, at the discretion of the AUC;
  • Presenting the plans for the Agency development in various conference and for a across Africa, so as to generate further awareness.

TWG composition

  1. Ana Nhampule (Co-Chair) | SADC (Lusophone)
  2. Peter Okebukola (Co-Chair) | West Africa
  3. Olusola Oyewole, Sec Gen (AAU) | West Africa
  4. Youhansen Eid, President NAQAAHE | North Africa
  5. Bella Sattar, SARUA | SADC
  6. Zakare Lire, CAMES | West Africa (Francophone)
  7. James Jowi, EAC | East Africa
  8. Michael Gaebel, ENQA | Europe