Luanda - Angola has called for a diligent and pragmatic application of the consensus reached towards the strategic axes of the action plan for 2022 for Higher Education Regulatory Agencies of the Member States of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP).
The call was made by the minister of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Maria do Rosário Bragança, at the opening of the 4th Meeting of Higher Education Regulatory Agencies of the CPLP member states being held in Lisbon, Portugal.
The minister said the country is awaiting the results of the institutionalisation of the Evaluation and Accreditation Speciality Forum, as well as the training of managers of external evaluators procedures in terms of higher education quality assurance.
Maria do Rosário Bragança recommended agencies to take better advantage of the mobility agreement, bilateral cooperation protocols and the declaration of commitment of external evaluators between the member states.
The minister added that results are expected in terms of higher education sustainability and pedagogical innovation, organisation and implementation of capacity building actions focused on teachers, as a pedagogical element that mostly contributes to the quality of education.
According to the Angolan official, concrete results are expected regarding the institutionalisation of minimum common references for quality assurance in education in the CPLP, which is part of the project to study the procedures for assessment and accreditation, whose implementation is underway with funding allocated by the special community fund.
The minister stressed that the forum has gradually become a mechanism of mutual aid and solidarity of the community, having as its main foundation the promotion of quality education for all citizens of the CPLP countries.
In the meantime, the minister recognised that the organ still has a long way to go, composed of complex challenges such as establishing a reference framework and minimum common objectives to be achieved by the accreditation and regulation agencies to develop and consolidate the assurance of quality of the higher education systems in by 2030.
Among the challenges, the minister pointed out the creation of a support network, incentive to technical cooperation, in the domain of capacity building, training of professionals in assessment and accreditation, considering the specificities and needs of similar agencies.
The reinforcement of information sharing on regulation, analysis and certification of courses and higher institutions are other challenges faced by the Forum.
The hybrid meeting taking place until March 24 runs under the theme "Quality Assurance in CPLP Higher Education: Assumptions of the profile and practices of the Procedures Managers ".
During the session, the Declaration of Commitment on the institutionalisation of the Specialised Forum of Assessment and Regulation Agencies of Higher Education in CPLP was formally signed, followed by a round table discussion on the theme "Assumptions for the Promotion of a Culture of Quality in Higher Education in CPLP: demands, practices, limitations and challenges".
