It will soon be easier for Kenyan certificates to be approved in a number of countries for work-related purposes.
There are ongoing talks between Kenya and seven other countries which form the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD.)
The countries are Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda.
Kenya National Qualifications Authority Director-General John Mukhwana said the regional framework will be a great advantage to member states.
The DG said the lack of a harmonized structure causes a toll on professional exposure to other countries.
“In some of these countries, it will take you up to six months for them to figure out what your qualification is,” he said.
All the other seven countries are yet to implement a qualifications regulator apart from Kenya.
Ethiopia is in the process of installing a qualifications authority in the country.
Mukhwana said, through KNQA, the country has been able to scrutinize papers submitted by foreign students seeking admission to Kenyan universities.
“In Kenya, institutions bring them to us, we convert it and know which one is genuine or not because some are written in different languages,” he said.
The authority has to translate the qualifications without distorting the information provided.
Mukhwana clarified that this process takes 48 hours in Kenya, but in some countries, it takes up to 2 years.
“As countries, we are at different levels of digitization and development so we don’t want anybody to be disadvantaged because we don’t understand your qualifications,” he added.
Once this proposal is adopted, the other seven countries will be required to implement qualifications authority.
After this, the eight national qualifications authorities will be in charge of setting a regional framework.
“How long does it take, how do they verify, we all use the same tool so that everybody goes through the same process,” the DG said.
IGAD Program coordinator Tsegaye Kebede welcomed the proposal, saying it was long overdue.
The reason for this regional framework is to encourage member states to have their own comprehensive framework.
In terms of different curricula being used by the countries, Kebede said the states will work with a process referred to as mapping.
“We are trying to approximate equivalency which will allow the countries to follow their own national system but it should find its place in the regional framework,” he said.
For instance, if the IGAD framework has ten levels, the participating countries will map themselves according to their level.
Kebede clarified that the framework will be submitted for consideration to the education ministers by November.
