The East African Community (EAC) has a long history of cooperation in higher education dating back to the 1960s. The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) was established to facilitate collaboration among universities in the region. While progress has been made in harmonizing quality assurance systems, challenges remain in fully recognizing academic credentials across EAC countries due to differences in curricula and qualifications. The IUCEA is working to develop an East African Qualifications Framework to promote recognition of qualifications and mobility of students and professionals in the region.

1. “Recognition of Academic Credentials: challenges and
solutions”
East African Community (EAC) experience
By: Dr. Benedict Mtasiwa, Programmes and Projects Officer,
Inter‐University Council for East Africa (IUCEA)

2. Map of East Africa

3. This presentation will mainly make reference to the area of jurisdiction of
IUCEA (EAC) and partly aspects of global nature.
The regional University education cooperation in the Eastern African region
can be traced back to the 1960s when the countries under the British
colonial rule - Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda had an access to university
level education through the Makerere College, affiliated to the University of
London.
Following the political independence of Tanganyika in 1961, Uganda in
1962 and Kenya in 1963, the University of East Africa was established,
comprising one constituent colleges in each country – Makerere college for
Uganda, Nairobi University college for Kenya and Dar es Salaam
University college for Tanzania.
In 1970, the colleges in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam became autonomous,
forming the University of Nairobi and University of Dar es Salaam. This led
to the Inter-university committee(IUC) in order to maintain the cross-border
interaction among scholars, existent under the University of East African
arrangement.

4. The IUC functioned very well with the political backing of the
first East African Community(EAC) which was an inter-
governmental community geared to effective exploitation of
resources for development through joint facilities in
infrastructure, social, trade et.c, until 1977 when the first
EAC collapsed.
In 1980, a memorandum of understanding was signed
between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to form the IUCEA,
based on appreciation of the value of cross-border inter-
university collaboration. The MOU was honored until the
revived EAC in 1999, and its(IUCEA) revitalization in 2000.
The IUCEA is considered to be one of surviving institutions
of the EAC.

5. Historic Background cont’d
Administration of regional Quality Systems -Admission
• At all phases of the cooperation of the 3 countries in university
education, the candidates were sourced from a similar pre-
university educational background comprised of Ordinary
Cambridge School Certificate, followed by Cambridge
Advanced School Certificate
• Earlier in the 1970s, the East African Examination Council was
established under the E.A. common services for coordination
and administration of the Cambridge Examinations
• The signing of an MOU in 1980 leading to the formation of the
IUCEA with the mandate of coordination of academic programs
in universities in the region, facilitated the potential for
mechanism for comparable and therefore, recognition of
academic credentials at all stages of academic processes in
the EAC

6. Revitalization
The IUCEA was revitalized in the 2000, following the signing
of the protocol of the EAC in 1999.
The revitalization involved development of the perspective
plan and a strategic plan 2006/2011. The IUCEA mission so
developed, defined the IUCEA as a regional inter-
governmental organization mandated to facilitating contacts
between East African universities for their development, and
development of the Higher Education sector as well as the
socio economy of the EAC
The IUCEA membership comprises EAC partner states of
Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda with Burundi
and Rwanda constituting the newest members of the
community. IUCEA Members are drawn from universities both
public and private, Higher Education regulatory agencies,
commissions for research, science and technology as well as
from the private sector and development partners.

7. The IUCEA membership in the EAC stands at 80 universities.
The EAC population is about 150 million people
The cross-border recognition of qualifications features very
prominently in the current strategic plan in terms of the
sequence of deliverables in the IUCEA Key Results Areas
related to Quality Assurance (QA) issues. They are,
harmonization of QA system, Benchmarking, Credit
Accumulation and Transfer System (CATS) and recognition of
Higher Education awards.
The IUCEA has in a participatory manner, developed a QA manual
and is in final stages of piloting of teaching programmes.
However, the following are challenges.

8. Admission
Increased demand for access to higher education with unclear
comparability of admission qualifications agreeable with
bridging programmes or other academic support systems for
international students offered by universities. This challenge is
more pronounced now with new EAC members and when
students from outside the EAC are involved
Characteristics/Quality of the curricula
Slow pace of EAC socio-economic integration, hindering
effective development of regionally responsive curricula,
besides the observed poor linkage between the socio-
economy and academics within most of the EAC partner
states
Lack of Harmonized Credit Accumulation and Transfer System
between HEIs in the country and the region leading to limited
mobility of students
Characteristics/Quality of graduates
Ineffective mechanisms for recognition and comparability of
academic awards as a result of the above factors

9. Challenges Cont’d
EAC has Partner States whose medium of training
is French, thus Besides the common differences in
curricullum, there is an additional challenge in
language for either parties, on assessing
qualifications and curricula
With regard to international acceptability, as an EAC
region, the regional arrangement is still in initial
stages, although institutional and country bilateral
engagements exist

10. Solutions on recognition of qualification
General conceptual approaches
Prioritisation of regional harmonization process at university
level rather than at lower levels. Where there are gaps,
effective university entrance bridging programmes need to
be developed and institutionally and regionally harmonized
Effective implementation of the EAC common Market
Protocol to benefit its customization in Higher Education
sector
IUCEA to lead the process in regional Quality Assurance
systems ready for development of subsequent QA
programmes such as credit accumulation and transfer
system CATS and Qualification frameworks
IUCEA to play an important role in the dialogue between the
academic community and professional bodies, industry and
community for relevance and acceptability of graduates
Exploit multi-lingual characteristic of IUCEA membership for
HE internationalization goals

11. Solutions Cont’d
Initiatives of the East African Community and the IUCEA
The EAC Treaty Article 5 and 102
The treaty inter alia states that the partner states agree to
undertake concerted measures to foster cooperation in
education and training within the community to;
Harmonize curricula, examination, certification and
accreditation of education and training institutions in the
Partner States through the joint action of the relevant national
bodies charged with the preparation of such curricula;
encourage and support the mobility of students and teachers
within the community;
exchange information and experience on issues common to
the education systems in Partner States; and
Collaborate in putting in place education and training programs
for people with special needs and other disadvantaged group.

12. Solutions Cont’d
EAC and IUCEA initiatives
There is good political will as observed in the EAC
Common Market Protocol signed in 2009, with Mutual
Recognition of Academic and Professional
Qualifications for the purpose of free movement of
labour in the region as one of targets
The IUCEA will therefore ensure effective
operationalization of this article, through programmes
such as the on going EAC Partner states/ IUCEA
development of an East African Qualifications
Framework (EAQF) for general education and
technical and vocational education training ( TVET)

13. Solutions cont’d
EAC and IUCEA initiatives
The EAQF is meant for recognition of academic
qualifications attained within the region’s HEIs, to
ensure effective recognition of foreign qualifications
by the NRAs under agreed benchmarks.
For professional entities, the IUCEA is closely
following on Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs)
being developed and concluded in different
professional set-ups

14. Solutions cont’d
IUCEA Strategy
Among the Key Results Areas of the IUCEA Strategic Plan,
3 of them have a bearing in the challenges and
opportunities in recognition of academic credentials.
Inter-university cooperation
Support Teaching and research in universities
QA in teaching and research
Internationalization of Higher Education through
international staff and student exchange programmes as
well as participation in international research activities,
is a KRA which depend on succesfull QA programme as
elaborated below
The Quality Assurance Unit in the IUCEA secretariat – more
details

15. Solutions cont‘d...
Progress on IUCEA Quality Assurance Initiatives
Overall Objective
to develop a harmonized quality assurance system for
higher education in East Africa
Specific Objectives
Develop a regional quality assessment tool for use by
universities in East Africa through institutionalization
of internal quality assurance mechanisms for
universities

16. IUCEA Quality Assurance Initiative, cont'...
Specific Objectives
Pilot the assessment tool in selected university
programmes.
Develop regional benchmarks for specific
programmes.
Build capacity in Quality Assurance at institutional,
national and regional level.
Mainstream the application of QA tool in all
institutional programmes, and
Mainstream the lessons learnt in the use of the
regional QA tool into the national accreditation and
quality assurance processes

17. Solutions cont'...
Development of Specific Programme/Subject
Benchmarks
Based on the QA manual, the IUCEA is aiming at
developing benchmarks that will facilitate
harmonization of university teaching programmes in
the region.
The pilot programmes included:
• Business Studies
• Agriculture
• Human Medicine

18. Solutions cont'...
Development of Credit Accumulation and Transfer
System (CATS)
IUCEA in collaboration with the National Higher
Education Regulatory Bodies of the EAC Partner
States have developed CATS framework for the
following subjects that are being piloted by selected
member universities:
• Human Medicine,
• Engineering,
• Agriculture, and
• Basic Sciences

19. Solutions to the East African Higher Education,
cont'...
Development of a Regional Qualification Framework
IUCEA is in the process of developing a Regional
Framework that will borrow and harmonize the
existing National Qualification Frameworks of EAC
Partners States that will facilitate:
articulation of harmonization of education,
training systems, and
qualifications for Partner States
This is expected to facilitate mutual recognition of
qualifications across the region.

20. CONCLUSION
The on-going regional initiatives that are spearheaded by
IUCEA will facilitate development of an East African
Higher Education Area that will be defined by the
following indicators:
Transferability of Credits across the region
Mobility of students and staff across the region
Mutual Recognition of academic Qualification
In this year the Strategic Plan ( 2006/11) will be reviewed
and new phase plans will be developed. A road map
with even more vigorous plan have been developed for
better regional and international goals.

21. I wish to invite you for exchange of experiences
and joint development of programmes and
projects with our region for development of the
higher education and the future of our scholars
and societies
THANK YOU
YOUR ATTENTION