Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) Director General (DG) Dr Alice Kande has said a standard guideline for coding all qualifications in the country will go a long way in providing an accurate picture for policy and decision-making.
Speaking during an online stakeholders’ workshop for the Kenya National Qualifications Coding Standard (KNQCS), Dr Kande said the development of the policy was in line with the agency’s strategic plan, Kenya Vision 2030 and Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) as currently promoted by the government.
“Your presence today underscores the importance we collectively place in enhancing the quality and relevance of education and training in our country,” she stakeholders drawn from universities, tertiary institutions, professional bodies, government agencies among others.
The DG noted that at the moment, qualifications awarding bodies in the education and training sector used different nomenclatures to identify education and training qualifications awarded in the country, a move that has hampered the mobility of students as well as portability of qualifications nationally and internationally.
“By embracing a standardized coding system, we will ensure that qualifications are described and understood uniformly, irrespective of their origin,” Kande said, adding that developing the provision of skills in the country would foster transparency and trust in educational credentials, thus boosting student and professional mobility, promoting lifelong learning, and facilitating international collaboration in education and training.
The policy also seeks to foster greater mobility of students nationally, regionally and globally with Dr Kande citing Kenya as being already ahead in terms of ensuring that qualifications in the country are globally recognized.
“We appeal to all stakeholders to share their views and input in order to enrich this policy,” she urged, emphasizing the need for a regional qualifications framework that is being validated by countries in the IGAD region in Uganda.
The Uganda forum is expected to endorse the IGAD Regional Qualifications Framework as well as review achievements since the 3rd Ministerial Conference in March 2022 and address educational challenges faced by Refugees, Returnees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and host communities in the IGAD region.
