African Continental Qualifications Framework - publication of final comprehensive Mapping report.
The African Union is developing the ACQF, working in partnership with the European Union, BMZ, GIZ and ETF. This project of the Africa-EU Partnership is a contribution to Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA). Activities are underway (2019-2022) and have adapted to digital-online-remote modes of work and communication.
Learn about NQFs in Africa! National qualifications frameworks are now mapped on the African continent as never before - an updated and comprehensive overview of state-of-play, trends and new dynamics. Based on data from the continental ACQF online survey, field visits, documentary research and peer-sharing and learning. In 3 versions (comprehensive, synthesis, snapshot) and in 3 languages (EN, FR, POR).
The full collection of 13 country reports, 3 REC reports and the newly published comprehensive report is published at AUDA-NEPAD website: https://www.nepad.org/skillsportalforyouth/publication/african-continen…
The central piece of the comprehensive mapping report is the 75-page chapter synthesising the most salient features and trends of qualifications frameworks (national and regional) on the African continent. Besides the comparative overview of NQF´s status, objectives, governance, conceptual-technical design, learning outcomes approach, quality assurance, validation of non-formal learning, registers of qualifications - this chapter comprises high-value specific analyses of: i) a sample of qualifications (in the fields of hospitality, accounting and coding) and ii) level descriptors of a sample of National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) and Regional Qualifications Frameworks (RQFs) based on progression across domains.
As anticipated, qualifications frameworks are at different stages of development and implementation across the continent. Discussion and exchanges unveiled NQF dynamics of different types and time frames. For dynamic analysis, the mapping study uses five stages to categorise the different situations of qualifications frameworks’ development and consolidation:
1. Qualifications framework not in place, the development process not started;
2. Qualifications framework at the early thinking stage;
3. Qualifications framework in development and consultation with stakeholders and experts;
4. Qualifications framework in place, approved as a legal Act, implementation started; and
5. Qualifications framework in implementation for some time, reviewed, improvements adopted.
Some countries moved from the early thinking stage to tangible steps of analysis and consultation towards an NQF (for example, Angola and Cameroon). Other countries are now moving from parallel sectoral frameworks (TVET, higher education) to establishing integrated, comprehensive NQFs (for example, Malawi, Mozambique and Rwanda). Other countries have moved to stage 4, following official approval of their NQF (for example, Eswatini, in August 2020). Another recent development concerns Lesotho: the country approved its revised NQF in June 2019 and uploaded the NQF Manual of Procedures, which can be viewed by any country interested in home-grown NQF experiences.
The following situations can be found in the different African geographical regions:
a) The majority of qualifications frameworks in Africa are operational in countries of the Southern Africa region, where the Southern African Development Community Qualifications Framework (SADCQF) is well established. These NQFs have been implemented for a longer period and, as a result, have more mature legal bases, operational instruments and governance structures maintaining and assuring the integrity of the NQFs. As noted above, two of the newest NQFs are located in SADC: Eswatini (approved in August 2020) and Lesotho (approved in June 2019).
b) Recent developments in East Africa, notably in Kenya (since 2014), are noteworthy, with the establishment of the legal base, governance structure, new online register of qualifications.
c) In the north, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia have had legally established NQFs for some time and continue working to put in place implementation structures and registers of qualifications.
d) In the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region, Ethiopia has designed the technical-conceptual bases of its NQF, but the start of implementation still requires enabling drivers.
e) In West Africa, we found a more diverse panorama of qualifications frameworks: some countries, notably Senegal and Togo, have established qualification systems, such as the Licence, Master et Doctorat (LMD) system in higher education, but there is no comprehensive, integrated NQF yet. Ghana implements an eight-level TVET framework and is developing a comprehensive NQF encompassing higher education. Cape Verde is a rare example in the region of a comprehensive NQF, with a decade of operational experience governed by a specialised entity, which was not well known before the ACQF mapping process. Other West African countries, such as Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau, have started the early stages of their NQF development processes in 2020.
f) In Central Africa, Cameroon has been implementing the LMD framework in higher education since 2007, and a system of qualifications levels and types for TVET. As the country’s Education Strategy 2020 gives priority to establishing an NQF, a stakeholders’ group started reflection in 2017, and a specific project with sizeable resources has been approved to start in 2020.
Angola is worth noticing, as the NQF coordination unit in charge of steering the development process made substantial progress in 2020, finalising the technical-conceptual design of NQF and the proposal for the governance structure and register of qualifications. The process is based on strong national ownership, and participation of stakeholders, supported by EU cooperation.
In several analysed cases, the NQF is seen and designed as one of the pillars/components of the national qualifications system, or of the wider education system. This is the case in Cape Verde, Mozambique and, more recently, Angola. The latter provides a useful example of a country where the NQF has become firmly entrenched in key national strategic documents, notably in the National Development Plan 2018–2022 of Angola. In August 2020, the new law, 32/20, introduced modifications to the Law of Bases of Education (17/16), Most importantly, the new law for the first time mentions the national qualifications system (section 19), defining it as the guarantor of the articulation between the levels and domains of learning outcomes from the different sub-systems of education and the National System of Professional Education.
The question of NQF scope concerns levels but also types of qualifications, and the extent to which frameworks accommodate non-formal and informal learning paths to qualifications. In terms of scope, the analysed African qualifications frameworks can be clustered in several situations:
· Sector-specific frameworks that operate independently, that is, in TVET, and higher education, without an integrated unifying framework;
· Sector-specific qualifications frameworks that are operational but are linked and work together with the wider integrated NQF; and
· One type of qualifications framework: national, comprehensive and inclusive.
The level structure of the analysed NQFs is diverse. Regional integration plays an important role in defining the NQF structure in certain parts of the continent. In southern Africa, the ten-level structure predominates. In the north, two of the NQFs have eight levels, one has seven. In West Africa, an eight-level structure is established in some of the NQFs. Ethiopia moved from an initial ten-level concept to an eight-level comprehensive framework. Although the sectoral scope of the framework conditions the level structure, there are several cases of sectoral frameworks spanning a large part or the full set of levels: this is the case of the TVET framework in Ghana (eight levels), the Occupational Qualifications Subframework in South Africa (eight levels), and the proposed architecture of the revised professional qualifications sub-framework in Mozambique (nine levels). The Kenya NQF and the Lesotho NQF both have TVET qualifications pillars spanning ten levels.
The range of level descriptors captured by the survey shows some diversity, but in the comprehensive NQFs, and in some sector-specific TVET and higher education frameworks, there is a clear predominance of the domains: knowledge, skills, competence and autonomy and responsibility. The newest of the approved NQFs (Eswatini) combines the domain ‘personal attributes’ to the two usual domains ‘knowledge’ and ‘skills’. Lesotho opted for a combination of ‘areas of knowledge (depth, breadth and complexity)’, ‘nature of skills’ and as a third domain ‘agency and context’. Two countries (Morocco and Tunisia) opted for a combination of more than three domains of learning, adding ‘complexity’, ‘adaptability’ and ‘communication’.
NQFs are associated with a range of strategic and policy objectives, which can be clustered as related to:
· Integration, coherence and permeability between the learning outcomes and qualifications of sub-systems;
· Quality, transparency, enhanced visibility and trust of end-users: by introducing learning outcomes approaches, stakeholders’ participation in qualifications development and approval, and accessible users’ information through digital and online instruments;
· Parity of esteem and value of learning in different contexts and sub-systems: academic, vocational, formal and non-formal;
· Inclusion: qualifications can be obtained via validation of non-formal learning, recognition of experience from work and life, accessible for people with little schooling;
· Regional and global comparability and recognition of diplomas and certificates; and
· Wider societal and economic goals, in particular: increase the stock of the qualified labour force, enhanced employability of holders of qualifications, strengthen competitiveness and productivity of the economic sectors, align the qualifications system with demand and changing skills needs.
In terms of the governance of NQFs, it was found that more advanced NQFs in Africa tend to be overseen by qualifications agencies (authorities, coordination units) but also to a large extent by QA agencies and specialised commissions. Overall, there is a trend towards national settings as opposed to sectoral agencies. In cases where sectoral agencies, in TVET, higher education and general education, are well established, the national ministries provide more of a coordinating and oversight function. Ministries always play a key role in NQF governance and often act as incubators for the national and/or sector agencies that follow later. The risk of a diversity of departments and agencies with overlapping mandates is genuine, more so in countries with sparse resources. Some countries are trimming their institutional set-up of education and training, seeking to optimise resources, roles and outputs.
The ACQF development process is advancing with development of ACQF Scenarios, technical guidelines and Capacity Development programme! The new ACQF website will be launched in April 2021. Stay tuned!
Contact: ecb@etf.europa.eu
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