SPEECH - SIGNING
OF Memorandum of Understanding between the Seychelles Qualifications AUTHORITY
AND the Mauritius Qualifications Authority
Thursday
17 July 2014
The
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and
International Trade
The Chairman
and Members of the Board of the Mauritius Qualifications Authority
The
Chairperson of the Tertiary Education Commission,
Ms Fiona
Ernesta, Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Qualifications Authority
The Honorary
Consul of the Republic of Seychelles
Mrs Hilda
Julie, Principal Officer for Unit Standards Development at the Seychelles
Qualifications Authority
Heads of
Tertiary Institutions
Distinguished
Guests
Today,
we are here for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the
Seychelles Qualifications Authority (SQA) and the Mauritius Qualifications
Authority (MQA). I extend a very warm welcome to the Chief Executive Officer of
the Seychelles Qualifications Authority and her colleague.
This
Memorandum of Understanding is yet another collaborative initiative between
Seychelles and Mauritius. We have long
standing collaboration in many fields with Seychelles. Recently the first Mauritius-Seychelles
Business Forum was held in Seychelles in April 2014, wherein four Memoranda of
Understanding to promote trade and investment were signed between the Small
Enterprise Promotion Agency and Enterprise Mauritius; the Seychelles Trading Company
and the State Trading Corporation; the Seychelles Petroleum Company and the
State Trading Corporation and the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry
and the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry. During the recent visit of
the President of Seychelles, His ExcellencyMr. James Alix Michel to Mauritius,
two Memoranda of Understanding were also signed on health cooperation and in the
fields of research and education, as well as the mutual recognition of
qualifications.
The
signing of this new Memorandum is an outcome of the 10th Joint Commission
session of the Seychelles – Mauritius on Bilateral Cooperation in September
2013 during which it was decided that there should be collaboration between the
respective Qualifications authorities.
It
is in this context, that Ms Fiona Ernesta, Chief Executive Officer of the
Seychelles Qualifications Authority and Mrs Hilda Julie, Principal Officer at
the SQA are here for sharing knowledge,
experience and expertise with regard to National Qualifications Framework (NQF)
development and systems in place including quality assurance, standards
setting, recognition and evaluation of qualifications with the Mauritius
Qualifications Authority.
I
understand that they will also meet the public tertiary education institutions
to consider collaboration in other areas.
I
would like to mention that the issue of qualifications framework is very
complex and wide ranging, especially in the present context of increasing
student mobility and internationalization of higher education. The
Qualification authorities are bound to work with their counterparts in other
countries and strengthen international as well as regional linkages with other
Qualifications Authorities. The MQA has established such collaboration with l’Académie
de la Réunion, the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the Ministry of Education of
Ghana, the National Training Authority of Gambia, TEVETA-Zambia, the Barbados
Accreditation Council and the Vocational Education & Training Authority of
Tanzania. I understand that it is also contributing to the elaboration of a
Regional Qualifications Framework (RQF) for the SADC region.
I
would like to mention that 21 students from Seychelles are currently attending
universities in Mauritius and two of them are beneficiaries of the Mauritius-Africa
scholarships.
We
now have four public universities, a Fashion and Design Institute and other
public institutions offering tertiary level courses and there will soon be a
Faculty of Ocean Studies, a Centre for Nanotechnology, a Centre for space
studies which will offer specialized programmes. We look forward to more
students from Seychelles joining institutions in Mauritius at undergraduate and
post graduate levels.
Before concluding, I would like to thank the
delegation from Seychelles for being here. Please convey our greetings to your
Minister of Education, the Honourable Mrs Mondon.
Thank
you
