The project ‘Europe-Africa Quality Connect: Building Institutional Capacity through Partnership’ addressed the need for assessing and enhancing institutional capacity for change, as well as contribute to the international dialogue and cooperation on institutional development and quality assurance, as core elements for partnerships between universities in Europe and Africa. Europe-Africa Quality Connect intended to share the EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme’s (IEP) approach with five African universities in different regions of sub-Saharan Africa as a trial application. Twenty-five European and African experts have participated to these evaluations, as comprising five evaluation teams. The project also allowed exchanges and networking between these experts in quality assurance, through mutual training exercises. Each evaluation team issued an evaluation report with recommendations for the evaluated university. Within this project I volunteered as a junior evaluation expert the evaluation of Omar Bongo University in Libreville, Gabon (2011-2012).
At the end of the project, the five evaluation reports have contributed in developing recommendations for the reorientation of universities with regards to governance, partnership with governmental agencies and relationship to quality assurance systems. The main findings and recommendations have been publicized through a final project publication and a dissemination conference at the end of the project.
Rosine T. Djomo 