BUJUMBURA July 19th (ABP) – The Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research through the National Commission for Higher Education (CNES), organized, on Thursday July 15, 2021 for the second time, a workshop of capacity building for the heads of higher education institutions on accreditation standards for institutions and training programs governing higher education, a check by ABP revealed.
In his presentation, Professor Juma Shabani, chair of CNES, indicated that a program accreditation standard is a tool that defines the minimum norms that a training program must meet to be authorized by CNES to be provided in Burundi.
He also added that the place of accreditation is to organize the training courses considered and to issue the diplomas equivalent to them.
Mr. Juma demonstrated the accreditation process for a training program. This is the development of a training offer, validation of the training offer by stakeholders, including representatives of the world of employment. He also reported on a self-assessment program for the training offer based on the CNES standard, the external assessment by CNES made up of a team of external assessors.
Among those processes, the chair of CNES further cited the submission of the reports of the self-assessment and the validation workshop of the training offer to the CNES.
He also specified a process for the development of a training offer in the BMD system (Baccalaureate-master-doctorate), to identify and characterize the professions for which it is necessary to train human resources and the output skills required for exercising these professions, and also to identify the academic level of candidates approached for access to these training courses. He also indicated the identification and description of the courses and other activities to be implemented and the educational system necessary to achieve the identified skills. He also indicated that this development process requires the construction of the educational model which must divide the course content into teaching units and then into semesters.
CNES members returned to the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology), and online education which “is easy for those who live in Bujumbura and for those who are in graduate school,” specifying that students must adapt to change even if it is difficult.
In his presentation, Professor Isaac Bizimana, a member of CNES, showed the participants the methods of teaching, evaluating and otherwise deliberating in accordance with the standards and requirements of the BMD system.
Among the methods of teaching differently, Mr. Bizimana returned to online courses and the use of ICT. As for evaluating otherwise, he clarified that one evaluates the achievements and that one aims for an improvement while showing that this evaluation must be positive, readable and simple for the progress of the student.
As for deliberating otherwise, he made it known that the academic rules must be clear, and that this deliberation must be a matter not of a few individuals but of all class stakeholders.
Among the challenges, Professor Alexis Ndabarushimana, permanent secretary of the CNES, pointed out the involvement of the world of employment in the development of training offers, the non-existent administrative structures and the policy of continuing training and academic succession, yada yada.