Arab Educational Information Network

The recent creation of quality-assurance (QA) agencies for higher education in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia is an encouraging initiative that is meant to improve the level of university governance and programs in these countries and to align their quality-assurance policies with those in effect in neighboring European universities. Previously, QA was limited to individual university initiatives, frequently undertaken within the framework of cooperation with external partners. Faced with a relentless « massification » of the demand for higher education (HE), North African countries have moved hesitantly towards diversifying their HE offers, encouraging private and semi-private universities as well as public-private formulas that have thus far not really managed to alleviate the situation by serving a significant portion of students. In order to ensure quality levels in public higher education and to regulate the new non-public initiatives, the new QA agencies need to develop an environment favoring transparent evaluation in accordance with well-developed sets of regulations. Yet the initial mandates of these agencies place them squarely under government surveillance, in contrast with regulations in effect for similar agencies in other regions of the world. The opportunities and challenges facing these agencies are considered. (Author’s abstract)