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| February 2006 | Volume
19, Issue 1 |
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FEATURE FROM THE ARCHIVES REGIONAL
NEWS PRACTICAL INFORMATION FROM THE ARCHIVES
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Regional News
AfricaBotswana
School Fees Reintroduced
Secondary schooling in Botswana has been free since fees were abolished in 1987. Although the scrapping of school fees saw enrollment rates soar, only about half the students continued their secondary education, mainly due to the lack of space in schools. The ministry assures critics that the extra revenue will be used to construct more and better facilities. Now, students attending community secondary schools will pay US$36 a year, while those at senior secondary school will pay $84, or an estimated 5 percent of government costs per child. — BBC News Kenya China Forges Education Ties with Kenya
This past year China's Ministry of Education took steps to establish a full-fledged Chinese language institute in the country. The Confucius Institute opened its first African location in December in Nairobi. The Institute is a nonprofit center promoting Chinese culture and language education with branches at academic institutions worldwide. Similar to Spain’s Cervantes Institute, the program was designed by China’s National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOTCFL) to advance Chinese teaching around the world. The Kenyan institute is the result of an agreement between NOTCFL, Tianjin Normal University and the University of Nairobi finalized in June 2004. “Its establishment and development is valuable fruit of education exchanging programs between the two countries,” Kenyan Assistant Minister for Education Kilemi Mwiria said. The Nairobi institute is the first of 16 Africa-based Confucius Institutes approved by NOTFCL. — People's Daily Kenyan Students Looking to Uganda for University Places
The Joint Admissions Board (JAB), formed in 2004 as the country’s central admissions body, has been criticized by many for offering only students with a B plus or higher average one of the 10,000 openings in the public university system. A large number of candidates are being turned away by the JAB despite having attained the minimum university entry requirement, a C plus. In addition, Kenyan students can expect to pay $280 a year in school fees while only paying $125 for the same education in Uganda. With the hopes of gaining admission to a reputable institution like Makerere University many students are enrolling for their A-levels in Uganda upon completing their O-levels in Kenya. “Jobs are scarce in Kenya. Few available opportunities are reserved for the most learned,” says Maserme Machuka, a Kenyan journalism student studying in Uganda. — The Nation Makerere Programs to Begin at Kenyan Institute
Positions for Kenyan students at Makerere are highly sought after as the university reserves only 10 percent of its places for international students. The institute will offer five programs including business management, library and information science, community psychology, mass communications and law. While classes will be held in Kenya, all of the grading and approval of lectures will be done from Makerere. Undergraduate courses within the new program will only be offered to advanced level certificate holders. — The New Vision National Polytechnics Given Green Light to Award Degrees
“The commission has dealt with private universities. Our mandate now will be extended to our public universities. Assurance and quality are fundamental to the strength, effectiveness, and competitiveness of higher education in the country,” he said. Early this year the commission closed U.S. based Newport International University for offering degree programs without accreditation from the commission. — The East African Standard Nigeria NUC De-accredits Universities, Law Schools in System-Wide Review
In 2005 the NUC evaluated 1,343 courses at 48 universities with a team of approximately 520 evaluators. Out of 25 federal, 20 state, and three private institutions evaluated, the NUC cited 102 courses that failed to meet the prescribed minimum organization standards in terms of study ambience, teaching aid, and quality of lecturers. The number of de-accredited courses is up 64 from the 38 indicted by the same evaluation the previous year. Universities will have a two-year interim period to remedy the cited deficiencies before reevaluation. In reference to the affected courses, the commission offered the institutions various options for addressing the rejected courses over the two-year interim. These include permanent closure of the course of study, phased remediation and reaccredidation, and permanent closure of some courses with selective remediation of others. The NUC also nullified the accreditation of five national law programs including the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Ibadan University, and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). The commission’s executive secretary Professor Peter Okebukola said the institutions, “shall immediately cease to admit students to the affected programs.” The National Council on Legal Education had recently awarded OAU an A plus grade for having the best law faculty in the country. — This Day NUC to License Three Private Universities
— This Day Rwanda1,400 to Graduate from Kigali Independent University The graduation was originally delayed due to the Rwandan Ministry of Education's failure to recognize the university’s Faculty of Social Sciences. On December 14, 2005 the Ministry’s cabinet passed a resolution accepting that the faculty had achieved the necessary requirements to allow their 800 students to graduate. ULK first began operations in 1996. — The Daily Monitor SomaliaDistance Learning Initiative Launched
The six Somali institutions involved are the University of Hargeisa, Puntland State University, Mogadishu, The University of East Africa in Puntland, Amoud University in Somaliland and the Somali Institute of Management and Administration Development. These institutions offer certificate courses in journalism, information technology and business communications, and plan to offer full degree courses in the same fields, as well as teaching, next year. — Voice of America South Africa Upper Secondary Curriculum and University Entry Requirements Reformed
New higher education entry requirements will require students applying to degree-level programs to have a National Senior Certificate with an achievement rating of at least 50 percent in four approved degree subjects. For diploma programs, a National Senior Certificate with a minimum score of 40% in four subjects will be required. Considered by some as a change that was long overdue, other educators are leery about the transition to the new curriculum and the preparedness of some schools to offer the new subjects Some teachers have complained of poor teacher training on the new courses and delays in the distribution of the necessary learning materials. — The Mail and Guardian Uganda Higher Education in Uganda, a Valued yet Increasingly Unavailable Commodity
The Sector Annual Performance Report 2005 found that enrollment in higher education grew 20 percent between 2003 and 2004 from 83,330 (65,938 university and 23,118 other tertiary institutions) students to 108,295 (67,212 and 40,357). The number of tertiary institutions alone rose from two in 1970 to 127 in 2004. Whereas average population per institution has increased over time, public expenditure on education and specifically higher education has been on a steady decline, creating a fragile situation. The government paid the tuition costs for students at national universities until 1999 when schools like Makerere University began to charge tuition in order to cope with decreasing financial assistance from the state. Since then, tuition has risen steadily causing a spike in dropout rates and drawing vehement opposition from both students and the government. The Uganda National Examination Board results for this year show an increase of 2,358 in the number of students eligible for tertiary and university education. Tertiary institutions across the country are trying to reconcile the increasing cost of providing higher education and the low-income levels of many Ugandans. The Ministry of Education is recommending a restructuring of the way higher education institutions are funded and the implementation of a student loan program. — The Daily Monitor High Education Export Earnings
— The New Vision Zimbabwe Chinese Mandatory for University Students
The announcement has been met by criticism among students.” It seems they are trying every political gimmick to lure the Chinese into this country to bankroll their bankrupt regime,” Washington Katema, president of the Zimbabwe National Association of Student Unions, said. Mugabe introduced his “Look East Policy” after his country was put under trade sanctions by a number of Western nations due to alleged human rights abuses, while his administration has, in recent years, been courted by the Chinese. — Cape Argus
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The government has reintroduced tuition fees in state secondary schools after more than 20 years of free education. The measure is part of the government’s cost recovery strategy, instituted in response to increasing demand for social services and declining state revenue, according to officials from the 
