Dr. Johansen Eid, Chairperson of the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education (NAQAAE), stated that a few days ago President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued a presidential decree promulgating Law No. 72 of 2019 on the establishment of technological universities. This is a highly significant step to create a new pathway for technical education in Egypt and to open new routes and opportunities for technical education students to enroll in higher education.
She affirmed that ensuring the quality of learning has become a shared global language for cooperation among institutions, society, and decision-makers. It is a mechanism for developing, renewing, and improving educational outcomes, and one of the most important approaches that promotes critical thinking, creativity, innovation, and the production of a competitive, qualified generation capable of building and contributing.
She explained that, in line with its responsibilities and mandates at the local, regional, continental, and international levels, and in alignment with the directions of the political leadership and Egypt’s Vision 2030, as well as in response to rapid developments, the Authority has recently moved along several integrated tracks to develop education and produce outcomes capable of competing in the labor market through the acquisition of skills, competencies, and capabilities.
At the local level
, the Authority updated and developed the standards documents it had issued to keep pace with developments and contribute to continuous improvement of the education system, especially with the application of the new education system. It also worked to spread a culture of quality in society, build and train cadres capable of implementing quality assurance systems and preparing institutions for accreditation, provide feedback to educational institutions, conduct scientific analyses of the status of educational institutions and submit them periodically to the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Education, Technical Education, Higher Education, and Al-Azhar, while maintaining continuous coordination with them. In addition, the Authority expanded the establishment of regional branches to facilitate services for institutions, broaden cooperation frameworks, and achieve equity between institutions in rural and urban areas.
At the regional level
, the Authority was keen to expand cooperation frameworks and transfer Egyptian expertise in the field of education quality to a number of African countries, particularly those without quality assurance bodies. The Authority is also a main partner and founding member of the European Union–African Union initiative to develop a unified model for quality assurance and accreditation standards across Africa. It also ensured strong Arab and African participation in this conference. The Authority was also among the founders of the Association of Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agencies in Islamic Countries, headquartered in Malaysia, as well as the Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education.
At the international level
over the past few years the Authority has been keen to cooperate with international quality assurance bodies and organizations to ensure alignment of its standards, documents, and procedures with the latest globally applied systems. This has positively reflected on Egyptian educational outcomes, enhanced graduates’ opportunities to enroll in educational institutions in developed countries, and created new employment opportunities for them worldwide.
The year 2018 witnessed significant international milestones for the Authority, as it underwent two international external review visits. The first was at the global level by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME). The second was at the continental level through the Higher Education Harmonization and Quality Assurance in Africa (HAQAA) Initiative.
As a result, the Authority obtained international recognition from the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) for a period of ten years—the first of its kind in Africa and the Arab world—as well as recognition from HAQAA.
Accordingly, the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education in Egypt has become a leading body among quality assurance and accreditation agencies in Africa and the Middle East, placing Egyptian education on the global education map.
This was stated during the opening of the Sixth International Conference on Quality Assurance in Education, organized by the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education under the patronage of Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, under the title: “Quality Assurance of Education: Between International Planning and Regional Implementation.”
The conference aims to exchange expertise among a group of leading global experts to disseminate best practices and distinguished experiences, explore mechanisms and methods to improve education’s responsiveness to current and future labor market needs, and activate local, regional, and international partnerships to enhance the Authority’s leading role at all levels.
The conference discusses a number of important themes, including the internationalization of education and quality assurance, the African framework for quality assurance in education, the role of quality assurance during the Education Year 2019, competency-based education and qualitative transformation with health professions education as a model, the role of quality assurance in technical education in improving responsiveness to labor market needs, qualification frameworks, and the future of education and its quality assurance in the digital age.
