Quality is a perennial desire in education as it commands all sectors that pertain to humanity and society. Accordingly, the primary aim of this book is to inquire into the imperative of quality higher education (HE) as a stimulus for sustainable development in Africa. Hence, the book embraces a cohesive theme of sustainable development and quality HE throughout all the chapters. The overall argument and focus of the book are about how quality HE is conditio sine qua non for sustainable development (SD) not only in the selected regions but in the entire continent. Thus, the first part of the book discusses the context and need for SD in Africa using HE as an impetus, while the second part focuses on quality assurance (QA) and enhancement processes and mechanisms of African HE as intended to drive quality HE for SD of the African society.
This book is cognisant to the stance that HE is the vehicle for SD. With the establishment of many higher education institutions (HEI s), QA has become crucial to ensure that all HEI s adhere to quality standards so that qualifications therefrom are not devalued. Attested to in an equidistant vein is therefore that quality education is in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG s) which emphasise the role of education in socio-economic development and whose several aspects have been addressed in the chapters of this book.
The selected regions are drawn from Eastern and Southern Africa. These are the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). EAC is a regional intergovernmental organisation of seven Partner States: The Republic of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Rwanda, the Republic of South Sudan, the Republic of Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. SADC is a Regional Economic Community comprising 16 Member States: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
This miscellany has drawn on research by local experts in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, and Namibia, including Angola and Mozambique, where the author of Chapter 18 reminisces experience with nostalgia. The first four countries are from Eastern Africa, while the others belong to the Southern part of Africa. The two regions in effect evince a proportionate representation of the four sub-regions in Africa which, according
The countries from the particular regions of focus do, in this regard, represent their sister countries; for, the EAC entities have been selected taking into account their primogeniture in the region. The first two in the SADC region have a peculiar and precedential history in that while South Africa was the first African nation to gain her independence on 21 May 1910 (from Britain), Namibia, on 21 March 1990, attained her own independence from the former. Meanwhile, Angola and Mozambique have both historical commonalities and differences with the duo. In juxtaposition, the United Republic of Tanzania belongs to both regions.
And albeit the title reflects “selected regions of Africa”, the chapters in the compendium are ultimately akin to the entire continental Africa.
The book enjoins an interdisciplinary appeal since HE is an interdisciplinary field and QA is not disciplinary-specific as its processes and mechanisms do entice multi-disciplines including, as a matter of course, the field of HE. The treasury therefore satisfies the tenets of quality and development globally and provides QA tools for the practitioner while calling Africa to re-consider not only her diversities and complexities but also her role as a partner in progress with other global nations. By extension, it relates to subject areas/fields that mostly include higher education, vocational education, African education; education management, policy and politics, school leadership, management and administration, arts and humanities, social sciences, interdisciplinary studies, and professional and applied sciences.
Besides the students and other scholars/researchers of HE studies, the book is relevant to policy makers in governments’ ministries of education and sister-ministries, practitioners, researchers in the field of quality development in higher education, relevant public and private social sector associations, organisations, medical institutions, and social and custodial operations, as well as marketing bodies and other professional and societal groupings.
In sum, this melange explores issues concerned with theory, policy, and practice apropos to the local context vis-à-vis the global panorama.