Higher Education in Seychelles , ,Seychelles Education Regulatory Framework, Seychelles Qualifications Framework

1. SEYCHELLES HIGHER EDUCATION
LANDSCAPE
Nathalie Fanchette
Quality Assurance Officer
Seychelles Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture

2. Background of Educational System in Seychelles
 Seychelles has a comprehensive, integrated, inclusive and co-educational education and
training system offered at the following five defined stages of Education Act (2004)
 Formal early childhood education (also referred as crèche)
 Primary education
 Secondary education
 Post- secondary or non- university tertiary education and training,
 Tertiary University and training

3. Background of Educational System in Seychelles
 Education is free and compulsory from the
ages of 6 to 15.
 The Primary school (P1-P6) is 6 years
beginning at the age 6.
 Secondary five (S1-S5) is 5 years, although
only 4 years are compulsory..
 After their secondary schooling learners are
to follow higher education at the Tertiary
Institutions.

4. Higher Education Landscape
Higher educational Institution can be divided into
two
 Tertiary non-university education and
training
 Tertiary University Education and Training.
This can further be divided into
 Public providers
 Private providers

5. Higher Education Landscape
Tertiary non-university education and training are as
follows:
 Seychelles Business Studies and
Accounting (SBSA)
 Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT)
 Seychelles Maritime Academy (SMA)
 National Institute of Health and Social
Studies (NIHSS)
 Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA)
 Seychelles Institute of Art and Design
(SIAD)
 The Seychelles Institute of Agriculture and
Horticulture (SIAH)
 The Seychelles Institite of Teacher
Education (SITE)
 The Seychelles Institute of Distance &Open
learninf (SIDOL)
 The Guy Morel Instiute (TGMI)
Tertiary University Education and Training
 The University of Seychelles

6. Higher Education Landscape
Private Providers
As for the University tertiary education and training,
from 2000 to 2009, the University of Seychelles–
American Institute of Medicine (USAIM) was the only
(private) university established in Seychelles. It was
registered under the Education Act (2004),
specifically the regulations on private schools. From
December 2010 the institution no longer functioned
in Seychelles.
There are three established private schools, offering
education from pre- school to secondary level only
These private schools are:
 International school of Seychelles
 Independent school
 École Française Des Seychelles

7. Regulatory Framework
Regulatory body in Seychelles
 Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) having
being dissolved,
 The Seychelles Qualifications Authority’s (SQA) is
the only body with mandate to regulate all
matters to do with education and training in
Seychelles.
 As the SQA Act 2005 part 4 1 (c) one of the
functions of the SQA is ‘’to promote the quality
and standards of education and training through
a system of accreditation, validation and quality
assurance’ ’
 It also needs to ‘’Inform itself of the needs of
commerce, industry, the professions and the
public service pertaining to education, training,
skills and qualifications and promote practices in
education and training.

8. Qualifications Framework
The National Qualifications Framework can be defined as a set of laws, policies and tools developed to
regulate the development and awards of qualifications in a country. It therefore provides a structure in
which all education and training can be included in one system and be compared with one another.
The framework is intended to
 Help learners make informed choices about their qualifications and to see what qualifications and
careers paths can be available to them.
 Makes it easier for learners to explain to others what qualifications he or she holds.
 Helps providers of education and training to ensure that the standards of their qualifications are at
the required level and can be recognized both at home and abroad.
 For employers to be able to clarify the level of education and training that their current or
prospective employees possess

9. Diagram 2: The structure of Seychelles National Qualifications Framework
As can be seen from the diagram below Seychelles has a ten (10) level framework with eleven
qualifications types. The lowest level on the framework is the Primary certificate while the highest
are the Doctoral and post-Doctoral degrees

10. Observations
What have been observed and analyzed while gathering the above information is that:
 There has been extensive improvement with regards to the quality of education at Tertiary
educational level. Post-Secondary Institutions are working to position themselves among
some of the best International institutions offering higher education.
 Even though higher education is seen as important in Seychelles, what has been observed
is that there is a lack of research conducted in this field, from the lack of updated
information on Higher education.
 There are few Tertiary University Education in Seychelles, the University of Seychelles is
the only one functioning at present.
 Seychelles (SQA) has in place a clear and demonstrable link between qualification levels
in the NQF/ National Qualification System (NQS) and level descriptors. Whereby value of
each qualification has been clarified.
 I therefore believe that there will be better and fairer employment payment, work
progression schemes, and schemes of service since these are linked to NQF levels

11. Conclusion
 Seychelles has been shown to have a well comprehensive, integrated, inclusive and co-
educational education and training system.
 There is a clear structure and parameters in place to demonstrate the progression
between the different stages in line with the National qualification Framework.
 However I would recommended that more research at national level be done in the light of
Higher Education for better comparison with the international context

12. References
 Ernesta.F(2021) Seychelles Qualification Framework & Alignment to the SADCQF .Available
from https://www.etf.Europa.eu. [Accessed on 20 May 2022 ]
 Mondon M. n.d ., Education Factsheet-Seychelles –SACMEQ .Available from
http://www.sacmeq.org › education-fact-sheet.[Accessed on 20 May 2022]