HE Quality Assurance in Seychelles

1. www.unisey.ac.sc
Higher Education in Seychelles
Dr Indra Persaud
Registrar
UniSey

2. Early history of the Seychelles education system
1839
Anglican Missionary Society started the first primary school for ex-slaves, although it lasted only
until 1942
1851+ The opening of a handful of Roman Catholic primary schools (boys)
1861 Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny open a girls’ primary school
1867
French Christian Brothers open a boy’s primary school. Some small rural primary schools started.
Church schools started receiving a small government grants
1872 Board of Education established (French speaking)
1875 Primary boarding school for freed slaves set up
1904 Secondary schooling initiated by the Catholic Mission
1938
Director of Education appointed and a Board of Education established.
English became the medium of instruction instead of French as had been in previous years.
1946-
1956
New Director of Education appointed to implement the new British Education Act of 1944 for the
provision of universal secondary education. A ten-year development plan drawn up with the
collaboration of the Catholic Church.
1950s-
1970s
A number of new schools built by the Catholic Mission.
A small teacher training college was opened (1945). Full-time courses were only offered from 1958
onwards.
New fee-paying St Joseph’s Convent School for girls was opened and the St Louis College for boys
became known as the Seychelles College. These two schools were the only grammar schools until
after independence.
De Comarmond, 2013, p232-233

3. 1977 –
1980s
Major changes in education structure and policy after the coup of 1977.
• free compulsory education for nine years for all children
• zoning policy
• new national language policy and the introduction of the creole language as a medium
of instruction for the first four years of primary school.
• creation of the National Youth Service, a two year residential for 14-16 year olds
1983 Seychelles Polytechnic created for post-secondary (16-18) further education.
1991
• Reduction of the National Youth Service to one year
• Re-organisation of secondary schools (extended from S3 to S4)
More recent history of education in Seychelles
Persaud (2017 pp.78-279)

4. 1995 School Improvement Programme established.
1998
• Phasing out of the National Youth Service.
• Secondary schools expanded to include S5, replacing the one year of National Youth Service.
• Reorganisation of the National Curriculum
• Merging of the School of Education and the Curriculum Development Section of the
Ministry of Education to form the National Institute of Education.
Persaud (2017 pp.78-279)

5. Seychelles’ education system – changing schools’ structure
Persaud (2017)

6. Short history of the Seychelles higher education provision
Persaud (2022)

7. The Higher Education Landscape inSeychelles
Regulatory Framework
 Seychelles Qualifications Authority Act 2021 (2005)
 The object of the Authority shall be to develop, implement and maintain a
national qualifications framework and to provide for quality assurance of the
education and training system nationally.
 Tertitary Education Act 2021 (2011)
 Tertiary education means learning programmes provided by tertiary education
institutions leading to qualifications from level 3 to level 10 of the National
Qualifications Framework.
 Tertiary education institution means a university or a professional centre.
 Professional centre means a public or private tertiary education institution, or a group of such
institutions, offering learning programmes in a variety of vocational, technical, technological
and applied science subjects leading to qualifications from level 3 to level 6 of the National
Qualifications Framework, and awards qualifications. A professional centre is also referred to
as tertiary non-university training institution.
 University means a tertiary institution of advanced learning and research, providing both
undergraduate and postgraduate education and offering learning programmes up to level 10
on the National Qualifications Framework, and granting academic degrees and other
qualifications in a variety of subjects.

8. Qualifications Framework
 National Qualifications Framework (2008)

9. Persaud (2022, 2017)

10. Tertiary Public Providers - only one higher education institution (UniSey)
No private HE providers
Source: TEC, 2021

11.  The University of the Seychelles (UniSey) – was registered under the
Education Act (2004) in 2009.
 With the passing of the Tertiary Education Act 2011, UniSey adjusted its
Charter to be in line with the new Act.
 The University is governed by a Council and receives most of its funding
from the Government in the form of scholarships for students.
 There has been some uncertainty over whether UniSey is a private or
public university. It has recently been clarified that the latter is the case,
and the consequences (especially financial) are currently under discussion.
 UniSey was first reviewed by the Seychelles Qualifications Authority (SQA)
in 2013 and the review resulted in 36 recommendations. In 2015, UniSey
finally received SQA accreditation
 The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the reaccreditation process being
deferred to 2021. In 2021, UniSey was awarded SQA accreditation.

12. Conclusion
Historically, Seychelles outsourced all of it HE provision to
international providers located outside of Seychelles.
Without the capacity to provide home-based HE, students were
sent overseas, and the policy framework focused on ensuring
graduates return to Seychelles.
When the decision to establish a local university was taken, in
2009, policies and the legal apparatus were established in the
form of the Tertiary Education Act, which included both further
and higher education institutions. This means that HE plays
second-fiddle to the more dominant FE sector, with little specialist
focus on the monitoring, evaluation, development, support for the
one HE provider (i.e. UniSey)

13. References
de Comarmond, O (2013) Exploring commitment of secondary teachers in
Seychelles, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Canterbury
Persaud, I (2017) Unpacking Paradise: Geography Education Narratives from the
Seychelles, unpublished PhD thesis, UCL Institute of Education
TEC (2021) Tertiary Education in Seychelles: Indicator Report for 2020
The Nation (newspaper) https://www.nation.sc/articles/3030/seychelles-at-250-
seychelles-college-and-regina-mundi-the-foundation-of-the-islands-modern-
education-system