Policy Context

Understand the policy framework and strategic priorities shaping the HAQAA initiative.

The Global Gateway package of the EU and the Youth Mobility for Africa flagship

What is the Youth Mobility for Africa flagship initiative?
The flagship initiative on Youth Mobility for Africa promotes opportunities for learning mobility on the continent and between Africa and the EU. It supports cooperation in higher education and skills development, strengthens regional and continental harmonisation mechanisms, while promoting Africa as a study destination. Thereby, the initiative contributes to youth empowerment for sustainable employability and active citizenship. The Youth Mobility for Africa flagship initiative is part of the Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package.  
The Investment Package will be delivered through Team Europe initiatives: the EU, its Member States and European financial institutions will work together to support concrete and transformational projects jointly identified in priority areas.
Beyond HAQAA3, Youth Mobility for Africa brings under one umbrella several existing and new EU-funded programmes, including:

The Pan-African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Framework

HAQAA has supported and continues to support the realisation of “PAQAF”, which is an African Union endorsed overriding framework for the harmonisation of quality assurance in higher education in Africa. It consists of several action lines and tools that have been developed or are in the process of being developed, intended to ensure quality provision in higher education in Africa, recognition of studies across borders and a common understanding on quality definitions and standards.

These action lines and tools comprise:

  • African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ASG‐QA) –Developed between 2017 and 2018 under the HAQAA1 Initiative, the ASG-QA is a major reference document for organising and evaluating international and external quality assurance. They are published in the four official languages of the African Union and are already being used by many QA agencies and universities across the continent. Under HAQAA2, a User’s Guide was also published in four languages.
  • African Continental Qualifications Framework (ACQF) –The African Union Commission (AUC), between 2018 and 2022, partnered with the European Union, the German GIZ and the European Training Foundation (ETF) in developing the ACQF, a key output of the “Skills for Youth Employability project” (SYEP) launched in June 2019. “ACQF II” is now underway, in which further capacity will be built to implement the framework and exploit it for recognition, flexible study pathways and education systems transparency.
  • African Quality Rating Mechanism (AQRM) – An institutional quality assessment tool. The development of the AQRM was spearheaded by the African Union Commission and it was endorsed by the African Union in 2007. It is currently hosted and promoted by the Association of African Universities which is developing a virtual verification method for the self-assessment survey that institutions take.
  • Addis Convention for Recognition of Qualifications – Developed with the support of UNESCO and still pending ratification by many African states. The UNESCO Addis Ababa Liaison Office will support national contact points to operationalise the Convention in Africa.
  • African Credit Accumulation and Transfer System – A proposal for a standardised system for measuring credits based on workload has been made by the TUNING Africa initiative (2018). In 2022, HAQAA2 has relaunched discussions with stakeholders about how to politically endorse and implement such a system. HAQAA3 will take it forward and pilot it at the level of HEI, national systems and intra-African mobility schemes.
  • Continental Register for Quality Assurance agencies and quality assured higher education institutions ‐ Pending development. This register would serve as a clearinghouse for QA agencies in Africa that comply with the ASG-QA. It should enhance transparency between QA regulators and hold them to common standards. It would be managed by the Pan-African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency.

HAQAA supports PAQAF through the following contributions:

  • Develops and promotes the adoption and use of the ASG-QA among quality assurance agencies (QAA) and systems in Africa.
  • Encourages the implementation of the ASG-QA (Part A) within higher education institutions (HEIs) through dedicated HAQAA training courses. These guidelines provide essential standards for quality assurance, helping HEIs strengthen their quality cultures and better prepare for external audits and evaluations.
  • Facilitates the application of the ASG-QA at the level of QAA and the development of QA systems by conducting external evaluations of these agencies and systems through “agency reviews and consultancy visits.”
  • Trains QA professionals across Africa from QA authorities and HEIs, equipping them to evaluate higher education institutions and systems based on ASG-QA.
  • Promotes and assesses the impact of the AQRM, alongside the ASG-QA, as a key African tool for institutional quality assessment and improvement.
  • Provides scenarios and recommendations for establishing a Pan-African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (PAQAA), envisioned as the custodian of PAQAF, and supports the African Union Commission (AUC) in taking concrete steps towards its set up.
  • Supports the AU in promoting various PAQAF action lines and tools while enhancing the visibility of higher education within the CESA framework.
  • Revives and raises awareness about the ACTS proposal among stakeholders.
  • Fosters a more comprehensive understanding of regional integration in higher education, highlighting the role of quality assurance within this context.

The Continental Education Strategy for Africa

What is CESA?

CESA is the Continental Education Strategy for Africa. The first iteration of the strategy (2016-2025) was adopted by the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in January 2016 to provide the post 2015 framework that links education to the human resource needs of Agenda 2063 and the SDGs, as well as national development goals. The strategy has been revised and a new strategy will be launched post-2025 by the African Union.
CESA contributes to the African Union 2063 Agenda (The Africa We Want) and meets the Common African Position (CAP) on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. CESA 2016-2025 has 12 specific objectives, many of which target or include tertiary education.
SO4 refers explicitly to “ensuring acquisition of requisite knowledge and skills as well as improved completion rates at all levels and groups through harmonisation processes across all levels for national and regional integration”, to which the PAQAF and HAQAA initiative contribute.
In order to deliver upon CESA 2016-2025 in a collective way, stakeholders were invited to join 12 different ‘Clusters’, including higher education. HAQAA supports and promotes the CESA clusters related to higher education and quality assurance.

Under HAQAA2, this entailed new academic and public policy training activities including:

  • A Comparative Study of Higher Education and Regional Integration and production of learning materials
  • A MOOC Series targeted at policy makers and HE practitioners, based upon the Comparative Study
  • The contribution to the set-up of a coordinated and coherent Data on Higher Education in Africa
  • Awareness raising for CESA, through the online event series ‘CESA Higher Education in Focus’

HAQAA3 will continue to support and promote the new CESA strategy post 2025.