LEARN WHO SAYS YOUR DEGREE IS A DEGREE IN ZAMBIA
Getting academic qualifications these days is relatively simple because of an increase in the number of colleges and universities compared to a long time ago when there were only a few. With this many schools available now, it begs the question of who says that the “degree” they give you is actually a degree? Whose stamp of approval is required for our diplomas, degrees or master’s to be recognized?
To answer these questions, we first need to understand what accreditation is. Accreditation is simply defined as a process that trade schools, colleges, universities or other education institutions including their study programs or courses must go through to confirm that they meet and maintain strict recognized standards. It should quickly be stated that a qualification (e.g., a diploma or degree) that is obtained from an unaccredited institution or program cannot be recognized, respected or trusted by employers or other institutions. An example of a situation when other institutions reject qualifications is when someone is trying to upgrade from a diploma to degree but the diploma they have is from a college that is not accredited.
Accreditation is very important because it ensures quality so that learners are equipped with the very best knowledge and skills. When these institutions and their study programs are up to standard, they also attract funding from the government and other organizations. This means that getting a scholarship is usually only possible or easier if you are coming from an accredited institution. The employment sector can also put trust in people getting qualifications from such institutions. Additionally, for the person who wants to go to a college or a university, accreditation makes it possible to choose a quality school just by looking at which agencies accredit that school.
Accreditation is the responsibility of organizations that are called accreditation agencies or bodies. These organizations can be broadly classified into regional, national and professional/specialised bodies. The regional bodies are those that carry out accreditation in a particular world region e.g., Southern Africa or Europe. A national accrediting body is one that is responsible in standardizing education institutions within a country. In Zambia, the national accrediting bodies are the Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZAQA) and the Higher Education Authority (HEA). The other type of accrediting agencies are the professional or specialized bodies which only accredit specific schools or study programs such as in health, law, accounting or engineering. Examples of professional accrediting bodies in Zambia include the General Nursing and Midwifery Council of Zambia (GNMCZ), Health Professionals Council of Zambia (HPCZ), or Teaching Council of Zambia (TCZ).
In this blog, we will only focus on the national accrediting bodies (HEA and ZAQA). For information of professional accrediting agencies such as HPCZ, look out for our coming blogs.
Higher Education Authority (HEA) has a number of functions including making policies for making new public higher education institutions (HEIs) and registering private HEIs. Higher education institutions include universities, colleges and other schools that provide tertiary education. HEA also regulates all HEIs by checking on quality of education and monitoring facilities such as libraries, laboratories and hostels. In simpler terms, HEA accredits institutions as a whole and includes things in its assessment that not only focus on what is being taught (the study programs themselves) but also other affairs that may impact student welfare and performance such as hostels, classroom facilities, lecturer to student ratio etc.
Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZAQA) on the other hand, concentrates on educational standards, that being mostly on what is being taught (curriculum, course content, lecturing staff etc.). They make policies for accreditation, accredit study programs offered locally and make sure that these are up to international standards. Additionally, ZAQA checks the genuineness of any qualifications that were obtained from outside the country.
As stated above, being accredited means a qualification can be trusted. This means that all HEIs and study programs in Zambia that are not registered/accredited to HEA and ZAQA may have very low standards of education. Someone who completes their education at an unaccredited HEI will get a qualification that is not recognized or respected.
So as you search for a school how can you know whether the school and program you want is accredited or not? The accreditation status of a school or program can be verified by visiting either the website of a national accrediting body like ZAQA or HEA or the website of a specialized accrediting body like GNMCZ or TCZ. Usually on the websites, you can find a list of schools they have accredited and the programs those schools are accredited to offer. If you cannot find the institution or program on the accredited list then you can call or physically visit the offices of the accreditation body. If you find that the school is not accredited then it would be better to look for a school that is accredited to the appropriate agency so that you are assured of a quality education.
Since the educational standards of an institution change from time to time, so does accreditation. This is because the accreditation agencies pass through institutions at regular intervals (e.g. every year) to inspect for these standards of education. Because of this, it is possible to find that a school or program that was initially accredited by an agency is no longer accredited. In this case, it is up to students and all concerned parties to force the institution to improve the education standards so as to be accredited and benefit from the advantages of accreditation. If that fails, you are left with no choice but to leave that unaccredited school so that you do not waste anymore time and money.
Below is a list of accreditation agencies and their websites. This is not a complete list of all the accreditation bodies associated to Zambian education. Some of these websites may have documents that include a list of accredited institutions for easy verification of accreditation status.
- Zambia Qualifications authority – www.zaqa.gov.zm
- Higher Education Authority – www.hea.org.zm
- Health Professionals Council of Zambia – www.hpcz.org.zm
- Nursing and Midwifery Council of Zambia – www.gnc.org.zm
- Engineering Institute of Zambia – www.eiz.org.zm
- Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority Zambia (TEVETA) – www.teveta.org.zm
- Teaching Council of Zambia – www.tcz.ac.zm
- Law association of Zambia – www.laz.org.zm