The document discusses quality assurance in higher education in Malawi. It begins with an overview of the current landscape of higher education in Malawi, which includes 3 public and 12 private universities. It then discusses some of the major challenges facing higher education in Malawi, including limited access and issues with funding, quality, and relevance. The document also outlines the regulatory frameworks for quality assurance, including the National Council for Higher Education and the National Qualifications Framework. It defines quality assurance and explains why it is important for higher education institutions. Finally, it discusses some approaches to quality assurance, including accreditation and academic evaluation.

1. QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR IN MALAWI
Miss Pamela Chirwa
Technical Teacher
Salima Technical College
June 2016

2. Outline of Presentation
 Introduction
 The Higher Education in Malawi: -The Current Landscape
 Major challenges of higher education in Malawi
 Regulatory Frameworks
 National Qualifications Framework
 What is Quality Assurance and why it is important in HEI’s
 Importance of Quality Assurance in Higher Education
 Approaches to Quality Assurance
 Observation
 Conclusion

3. Introduction
This paper focuses on the quality assurance in public and private higher
education system with specific reference to Malawi.
It begins with an overview of the current landscape of higher education sectors.
It comprises of three public and twelve private universities.
Despite the increase in public and private universities, access to higher
education in Malawi remains a major challenge.
The solution to these challenges rests on the educational systems, quality
assurance, and development of qualifications frameworks to position the country
on the global knowledge landscape.

4. The Higher Education in Malawi: -The Current Landscape
 Higher education was formally introduced in Malawi in 1965, when the
first intake of 90 students was enrolled at the University of Malawi.
 The year 1999 saw the establishment of a second university, the Mzuzu
University, in the north. This followed by the newly establishment
Malawi University of Science Education and Technology (MUST) in
2013.
 In yet another move to increase access into higher education the
Government decided to allow private providers of higher education.

5. The Higher Education in Malawi: -The Current Landscape (cont’……..)
There are now a total of 15 universities – consisting of 3 that are public and 12 private
institutions. The oldest being the University of Malawi (established in 1965) while some
institutions were established as recently as 2013
Private Higher Education Institutions Public Higher Education Institutions
The Catholic University of Malawi University of Malawi
University of Livingstonia Mzuzu University
Blantyre International University Malawi University of Science and Technology
African Bible College
Exploits University
DMI ST John Baptist Malawi Adventist University
ShareWORLD Open University
SkywayUniversity
Pentecostal Life University
Daeyang University
Nkhoma University
Malawi College of Accountancy

6. Higher education Challenges in Malawi
HE today face significant challenges that threaten to undermine its quality
• Access to higher education – public and private institutions are
unable to absorb the increasing demand of students for higher
education.
• Problems of underfunding have impacted on current resource and
infrastructure constraints at the universities, and this has had a
major negative impact on the University’s ability to achieve its
goals and objectives.
• problems of quality and relevance of teaching and research has
raised concern in the relevance of curricula, as expressed by the
overall mismatch between programs of study and labor market
requirements. Institutions are generally ineffective at preparing
students with applicable skills and reflecting the needs of the
employment market.
• Weak research and innovation capacities particularly in high
priority areas, such as agriculture and natural resources limiting
their capacity to meaningfully contribution to Malawi’s development

7. Regulatory Frameworks
National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) is a quality assurance
agency established by an Act of Parliament No. 15 in 2011 to register and
accredit institutions of higher education with the primary purpose of:
 Crediting and quality assurance services in higher education institutions
 Promoting and Coordinating education provided by higher education
 Designing quality assurance systems
 Determining framework for funding higher education
 Promoting guidance on terms and condition for awarding students
grants, loans and scholarship
 Harmonizing students selection into public higher education institutions

8. Regulatory framework (cont’….)
The TEVET Qualifications Framework (TQF) is part of the National
Qualification Framework targeting the first four levels of the NQF and
specifically for the technical and vocational occupations. The
Qualifications framework is perceived as capable of doing the
following among other things: -
 Providing an individual with opportunities to learn
 Allows one to learn on an ongoing basis.
 Prevents learners from being locked into one learning
compartment.
 Recognizing from life experiences and learning that has taken
place in different situations.
 Credits allocation for achievement of national qualifications
through both formal and informal learning situations.

9. National Qualifications Framework
National Qualifications Framework is an instrument for designing a
program, revising curricula and measuring learning outcomes in terms of
knowledge, skills and naming qualifications across UNIMA.
The University of Malawi QF has three levels reflecting the current system
of education and training. At each level three heading of descriptors
explain the content of learning outcome.
Learning outcomes outlines what a successful student will know,
understand and be able to do. It is an achievement learning outcomes that
is important for the award of credit not how or where the learning took
place or how it was assessed or how long it actually took.

10. National Qualification Framework (cont’d….)
Qualifications that signify completion of the bachelors degree are awarded to
students who: -
 have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their field
of study) to inform judgements that include reflection on relevant social,
scientific or ethical issues
Qualifications that signify completion of the Masters degree are awarded to
students who: -
• can apply their knowledge and understanding, and problem solving abilities
in new or unfamiliar environments within broader (or multidisciplinary)
contexts related to their field of study;
Qualifications that signify completion of the Doctorate degree are awarded to
students who: -
 have demonstrated a systematic understanding of a field of study and
mastery of the skills and methods of research associated with that field;

11. The National Qualification Framework (cont’……)
The objectives of NQF has in place a mechanism for ensuring
quality and efficiency in higher education and training must be:
 improving access and inclusion to education and training,
 better prospects for employment and income
 improved mobility and flexibility of workers
 transparent and comparable qualification which can
contributing to improved employability and productivity

12. What is Quality Assurance and why it is important in HEI’s
 Quality assurance relates to planned and systematic review process of an
institution or program to determine whether or not acceptable standards of
education, scholarship, and infrastructure are being met, maintained and
enhanced.
 QA aims to equip student with the knowledge, skills and core transferable
competences they need to succeed after graduation, within a high quality
learning environment which recognizes and supports good teaching.

13. What is Quality Assurance and why it is important in HEI’s (cont’d…..)
 Quality assurance is used by national governments worldwide as to manage and
promote quality of delivery by higher education institutions. The Malawi higher
education sector have generally operated for many years without quality
assurance policy.
 Hayward (2006) advises that in the absence of effective and appropriate quality
assurance mechanisms to ensure and improve quality; socio-economic
development cannot be fully realized. In line with this recommendation by Hayward
(2006), the Government of Malawi established a quality assurance agency, the
National Council for Higher Education in 2011.
 NCHE was mandated with the responsibility to guarantee and maintain quality in
higher education by creating stable and reliable reference standards for registering
and accrediting higher education providers, their programs and courses

14. Quality Assurance Approaches for Improving Quality
1. Accreditation:
For any institution to be accredited, the National Council for Higher Education
must be satisfied, after a series of inspections and visitations, that the
institution concerned has : -
 adequate physical and financial resources
 viable programs
 adequate qualified staff and structures of governance to deliver quality
higher education
 Malawi set up accreditation bodies, mainly for accrediting private HEIs

15. QA Approaches for Improving Quality
2. Academic Evaluation/Assessment/Audit :
 Undertaken by governments or national agencies
 Uses the fitness for purpose approach i.e. is the institution achieving its own
set objectives and standards?
 Involves preparing an institutional self-assessment report which is reviewed
by a panel of external assessors who undertake a site visit and submit their
report
 Objective is development & enhancement, but in some countries linked to
accountability & public funding
 Evaluation process now widely used internationally
Both Accreditation & Evaluation processes are important for improving Quality in
Malawi universities

16. Observation
 The emergence of private universities in Malawi was anticipated to
contribute to increasing access to higher education. However access
remains a challenge. Both public and private universities have not
increased access substantially.
 The Malawi higher education sector have generally operated for many
years without the education policy to regulate such things as quality
assurance.
 However In the absence of quality assurance mechanisms to ensure
and improve quality; socio-economic development cannot be fully
realized. In line with this the Government of Malawi established a quality
assurance agency the National Council for Higher Education in 2011.

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