Talatona — Seven courses in the field of Health and Health Sciences, out of a total of 30 courses, were accredited by the National Institute for Assessment, Accreditation and Recognition of Higher Education Studies (INAAREES), in October 2023.
Of the thirty health courses, nine were in Medicine and 21 in other health sciences, at the Agostinho Neto Universities, in Luanda, in the Medicine, clinical analysis, pharmaceutical sciences and nursing courses, Katyavala Bwila University, in Benguela, and José Eduardo University Santos (Huambo).
In this first phase of the process, courses taught at the Universities Mandume Ya Ndemufayo, in the province of Huila and Cunene, as well as 11 de Novembro, in Cabinda, Rainha Njinga Mbandi, Privada de Angola, Jean Piaget and the Instituto Superior Técnico Militar were evaluated.
According to the Minister of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Maria Do Rosário Bragança, who on Friday opened the ceremony, Public Disclosure of the Results of the External Assessment and Accreditation Process of Higher Education, the accredited courses last for two to three years and, after this time, they will have to be subjected to an external evaluation process.
She explained that institutions whose courses were not accredited have up to two years to organize themselves and check the aspects in which they were penalized in order to improve.
"Whether for non-accredited courses from institutions that have not carried out self-evaluation, they will not be able to admit new students, being a measure of coherence, because if the courses were not accredited, it means that they run the risk of being closed by let it be proven that they managed to have an improvement plan", she said.
She added that institutions that did not carry out the self-evaluation process, which is important, even for the preparation of their external evaluation, will also not be able to admit students in the next academic year.
This is the first consequence of this external evaluation process, said the official, highlighting that none of the courses will be closed, being just a measure for institutions to improve the points in which they were not admitted.
As for the tiny number of accredited courses, it shows that the government is concerned about the quality of teaching.
"Our work demonstrates the courage to bring existing weaknesses to light and this is done starting with a sensitive area of medical and health sciences", she explained.
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She added that this is an important process because for the first time the country has an external evaluation process, conducted with the aim of verifying the level of quality, as well as the solutions that will need to be applied to improve both its functioning and its social impact.
In turn, the general director of INAAREES, Jesus Tome, considered that the accreditation process will boost the quality of education in the country, despite none of the courses being able to reach 100 percent quality and performance.
Jesus Tomé stressed that the criteria required for accreditation of courses are limited to indicators of curriculum, management, teaching plan, infrastructures, among others.
The external evaluation process of medicine courses and other sciences included the participation of senior national and foreign experts (from Brazil, Cape Verde, Cuba, Mozambique, DRC, Zimbabwe, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe).
This is the first phase of the External Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education process, which took place from October 2nd to 6th, 2023.
During the event, accreditation certificates were delivered to higher education institutions, namely the Jean Piaget University with two courses, in the areas of medicine and nursing, the Private University of Angola (UPRA), in the courses of medicine, physiotherapy, nursing and oncology and the Mandume Ya Ndemofayo University, in the Medicine course. Giz/JCB/DOJ
