“HEA Legally Required to Audit All HEIs Annually” – Dr. Mushumba
The Director – Quality Assurance of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has stated that the Authority is legally required to audit all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) on an annual basis.
Dr. Mushumba said this during the opening of the annual institutional audits of the University of Zambia (UNZA), as he stood in for the Director-General who was away on national duties.
Dr. Mushumba remarks were reemphasising the provisions of the Higher Education (Amendment) Act, 2024, where in Section 22A (1), the Act states that a Higher Education Institution registered or declared by Statutory Order under this Act shall be subjected to an annual institutional audit by the Authority in the prescribed manner and form on payment of the prescribed fee.
The provisions of Section 22A of the Amendment Act make it clear that annual institutional audits apply to both public and private HEIs as private HEIs are the ones that are registered, whilst public HEIs are the ones that are declared by Statutory Order.
This is why HEA conducted the audits of UNZA from 2nd to 5th December, 2024, and the Copperbelt University (CBU) from 19th to 21st November, 2024.
The prescribed manner and form on payment of the prescribed fee for the annual institutional audits are provided for in the Higher Education (General) Regulations, 2024, that were issued to operationalise the Higher Education (Amendment) Act, 2024 and took effect on 29th August, 2024.
The General Regulations have changed the associated fees to the services provided by HEA, including introducing fees that were not previous paid like annual institution audit fees. The fees
| Type of HEI | Local HEI | Foreign Owned HEI |
| College | K20,000.00 | K50,000.00 |
| University College/ Technical University College | K25,000.00 | K50,000.00 |
| University/ Technical University | K35,000.00 | K60,000.00 |
| Institution for Specialised Training of Professionals in a Specified Field | K25,000.00 | K50,000.00 |
| Institute | K25,000.00 | K50,000.00 |
Dr. Mushumba continued his remarks by saying, “Annual audits, in our case, have become a legal requirement that we need to fulfil every year without fail. We are coming from a time where we could audit institutions as per when we could manage as HEA but in this particular time, we have no excuse for not auditing any institution even when we have an excuse in terms of inadequacy on our part due lack of adequate number of staff.”
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