Maputo — Mozambican students are now to enjoy more flexibility to enroll in different programmes in institutions of higher education.

To that end, the government approved on Tuesday a decree that creates the National Academic Credits Accumulation and Transfer System.

Speaking during a briefing to the media at the end of a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Deputy Foreign Minister Henrique Banze explained that the main objective of this system is to guarantee more flexibility and freedom for higher education students.

The system hinges on the number of years a student should study, and the number of academic credits he accumulates. A particularly diligent student can shorten the time of his course by accumulating more credits. A four year courses could thus become a three year one.

Students can also change course, without losing any credits already obtained. This includes moving from one institution to another, provided there is a bilateral agreement between the two institutions.

Banze recognised that not all higher education institutions will be able to implement the new system immediately, but they should all prepare to do so.

The government also approved new regulations to harmonise higher education qualifications. This will allow the Ministry of Education to recognise a variety of short duration post-graduate courses which had previously gone unrecognized.