Speaking when he featured on Life TV’s News Report Current Affairs Talk Show yesterday, HEA’s Manager – Standards, Research and Institutional Audits, Dr. Orleans Mfune, stated that the increase in the number of HEIs has resulted into there being an increase in the number of places available for students to enrol into and in the varied LPs from which to choose.

“Private universities should not be seen as a negative element, they provide an important service to fill a very important gap,” Dr. Mfune said, adding, “Government alone cannot actually manage (to provide higher education to everyone) and the private universities are providing a service to meet the demand that is there.”

Dr. Mfune noted that statistics have shown that only 20% of high school graduates in Zambia manage to enter university, elucidating the sobering fact that the majority of people that pass Grade 12 do not make it to university, mainly due to limited space. Thus, private universities provide an avenue to increase access to university education.

The Manager – Standards, Research and Institutional Audits was featured on the show to discuss the alleged mushrooming of universities purporting to be credible and legitimate.

“When people talk about mushrooming, I know they are talking about private universities (but) this is a phenomenon that will be with us,” he said, adding, “but I have to assure the viewers because sometimes we take this as a negative.”

In drawing the parallel with the alarming number of Grade 12s who fail to enter higher education even with full certificates due to limited places, Dr. Mfune elaborated that the main concern should not necessarily be the perceived number of HEIs but how to safeguard the quality provision of higher education by these HEIs.

“The main concern that our stakeholders should have is how we safeguard the quality of education in these universities,” Dr. Mfune said, stating that that it was through the processes that HEA had put in place that safeguard against a decline in quality and ensure that quality is maintained.

Dr. Mfune added that these quality assurance processes include accreditation of Learning Programmes (LPs), auditing of HEIs, and classification of HEIs, a process which the Authority has recently began to place HEIs in categories defined by the Zambia Qualifications Framework (ZQF) depending on their capacity to offer higher education.

The Honourable Minister was speaking today when he hosted a multisectoral press briefing at the Ministry of Higher Education in Lusaka with the Ministry of Health, the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU), the Ministry of General Education, and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services.

In his remarks, Dr. Mushimba stressed that the reopening was applicable to all Public and Private Universities and Colleges, and that it will be implemented with strict adherence to COVID-19 regulations on social distancing, washing of hands, masking and avoidance of unnecessary gatherings.

The Minister of Higher Education further stated that before any HEI could be allowed to be reopened, it would need to be inspected and certified ready by the appropriate authorities. Further, HEIs that were used as Quarantine Centres for COVID-19 would require to be adequately disinfected before they were certified ready to receive students back on their campuses.

The Minister further outlined the following key guidelines that will be required for any HEI to be certified to reopen, amongst other measures by appropriate authorities:

1. Temperature checks at entry gates;
2. Provision of hand washing facilities at all entrances of hostels, lecture rooms, labs, administration buildings, etc;
3. Restriction of students two (2) students per room in Hostels and no squatting will be permitted;
4. Restriction of visitors on campus;
5. Social clubs and amenities will be closed;
6. Very strong peer-to-peer monitoring;
7. Provision of a check-in and check-out register in all Hostels;
8. Regular inspections of hostels to ensure compliance; and,
9. Regular cleaning, disinfection of buildings and surrounding areas.

In order to minimise the spread of COVID-19, all HEIs in Zambia were closed on 19^th March, 2020. This followed the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic by the World health Organisation (WHO).

Thus, from that period on, in order to avoid a complete shutdown of learning, MoHE ensured HEIs utilised e-learning platforms to design, package and deliver online courses using various systems and communication for online and offline learning. Dr. Mushimba reiterated that e-Learning would continue being an integral part of the learning process for both graduating students and those in other years.

However, following His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s directive that MoHE undertakes consultations on the possibility of reopening HEIs, the Ministry consulted widely in a multi sectorial approach to review and assess the reopening of HEIs.

Thus, with the reopening of HEIs from 8^th June, 2020, TEVET Colleges and other colleges will reopen on 1^st July, 2020, with the TVET Examination Sessional Dates being reduced to two sessions this year, namely:

1. Exams that were scheduled for April/May will be held from 27^th July – 7^th August, 2020.
2. Exams scheduled for July/August and November /December will be combined and held from 8^th – 23^rd December, 2020

Download the full statement here.

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