HEA Board Chairperson Urges ODL Workshop Participants to Use Knowledge Gained at Capacity Building Workshop for the Betterment of Education Standards
The Chairperson of the Board of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), Prof. Levy Siaminwe, urged participants of the just-ended Capacity Building Workshop to apply the knowledge gained on Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in bettering the education standards in the country.
Prof. Siaminwe said this when he gave the Keynote Address at the two-day Capacity Building Workshop on Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Open Education Resources for Higher Education Stakeholders in Zambia which was hosted by HEA on 9th and 10th October, 2023, at Neelkanth Sarovar Premiere in Lusaka. The Workshop was facilitated by Dr. Jako Olivier, Adviser: Higher Education at Commonwealth of Learning (COL).
Prof. Siaminwe remarked that from what he had observed from HEIs, what was most evident from them was external quality assurance and not internal quality assurance.
“(HEIs) expects HEA to come and see what they are doing but the internal quality assurance of the institutions is not seen,” he said, adding, “the torch that has been passed to you (through this Capacity Building Workshop) should be operated in such a way that as HEIs, you will conduct internal quality assurances without HEA constantly monitoring.”
The Chairperson of the Board stated that the optimum situation in the higher education subsector would be for all HEIs to implement internal quality assurance systems, with processes of these systems being in place to ensure that quality is maintained.
“This would be good for HEA because then the Authority would only focus on improvement to go further beyond what the HEIs can do,” said Prof. Siaminwe.
Prof. Siaminwe’s remarks further echoed HEA’s strategic direction in its 2022 – 2026 Strategic Plan of facilitating the creation of quality assurance units in all HEIs in line with the Authority’s mandate of promoting quality assurance in higher education as outlined in the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013.
The internal quality assurance units in HEIs are essential for developing a culture of quality in HEIs.
HEA hosted the Capacity Building Workshop with the financial support of COL.
