Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
26 June 2009
Maputo — The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic on Friday passed a government bill amending the law on higher education, to bring the country's university degrees into line with normal international practice.
For decades the standard first degree at the country's largest, and oldest university, the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), has been a "licenciatura". Most licenciatura courses lasted five years (and seven years in the case of medicine). Many students then remained enrolled at the university for several more years before completing their end of course dissertation.
This system made the UEM one of the least productive universities in the world. Its current Vice-Chancellor, Filipe Couto, set out to change that, with a range of reforms, including slashing the length of a first degree course to three years.
The new bill essentially backs Couto's reforms. Although it keeps the antiquated term "licenciatura", it defines it in such a way as to make it clear that in reality this is a bachelor's degree.
A degree is obtained, not through a make-or-break final examination, but by the accumulation of academic credits won by the student over the course. The bill defines an academic credit as "the unit of measure of the work done successfully by the student, in all forms".
The licenciatura degree is now defined as "a qualification with a predominantly academic or professional character, obtained at an institution of high education at the end of the first cycle of training, with a number of credits corresponding to three to four years full time study".
There are two other "training cycles" in higher education - the second, lasting for 18 months to two years, culminates in a Master's Degree, while the third, with a minimum duration of three years, leads to a doctorate.
Introducing the bill, Education Minister Aires Aly stressed that reform was needed so that Mozambican higher education meets the needs of the country and is compatible with the models used in other countries of SADC (Southern African Development Community).
The Mozambican model, he said, should be "simple, flexible and comparable, regionally and internationally".
The bill was not controversial and passed its first reading unanimously.
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