On 30 June 2025, more than 130 key stakeholders from across Africa met online to validate the next steps for the establishment of a Pan-African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (PAQAA). The meeting, organised under the HAQAA3 Initiative, brought together national QA agencies, ministries, regional bodies and technical partners to confirm the way forward with broad legitimacy and continental balance.
During the session, the African Union Commission, though its Director of Education, Science,Technology and Innovation (ESTI), Prof. Saidou Madougou, reaffirmed its commitment to support the transition from the current PAQAA setup towards an operational Pan-African Quality Assurance Alliance, which will lay the foundations for the future Agency. The European Commission, through Claire Herrmann’s intervention, highlighted Europe’s continued partnership and underlined that “Africa has shown clear ownership and leadership in taking PAQAA forward — this is exactly the type of continental solution we want to stand behind.”
The meeting confirmed the core recommendations and roadmap: clarifying the legal framework, revisiting the current name to better reflect its role, launching an Interim Council, and keeping all regions engaged through clear multilingual communication, political buy-in and technical support. With this milestone, everything is now in place to formally open the call for countries and agencies to join the Alliance that will evolve into a continental QA body.
The full Summary Report, presentations and next steps will be available on the PAQAA website, reinforcing the collective ambition to shape an African voice for quality assurance in higher education.
