On 16 May, 2022, the UNESCO-Shenzhen Funds-in-Trust (UNESCO-SFIT) Africa Project Outcome Meeting was successfully held in Barcelona, Spain. The meeting was jointly organised by the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI) and UNESCO, under the theme "Strengthening Quality Assurance Systems to Build an Inclusive and Resilient Future for African Higher Education" within the framework of the 2022 World Higher Education Conference (WHEC2022), with the aim to showcase the results of UNESCO-SFIT Africa project and to discuss quality assurance of online and blended higher education and potential topics of future collaboration.

High-level representatives from the Chinese government, the Shenzhen Municipal government, and UNESCO gave opening remarks and congratulated the project on its completion. Programme specalist from UNESCO and representatives from 5 project countries summarised the results of the project and expressed their gratitude to the Shenzhen Municipal government for its generous funding and unwavering support. Finally, UNESCO-ICHEI discussed quality assurance of online blended learning and the future direction of cooperation with higher education experts from Egypt and Malaysia.

Mr. Peter Wells, Chief of UNESCO's Higher Education Section participated in the onsite meeting and delivered opening remarks on behalf of UNESCO and Ms. Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO. He recognised the important contribution of the UNESCO-SFIT Africa Project and UNESCO-ICHEI to quality assurance in Africa. He emphasised that the UNESCO-SFIT Project supported a number of African countries to make significant progress in quality assurance in higher education, making a significant positive impact in the 10 participating African countries and the UNESCO system. Mr. Wells also indicated that at the beginning of the project, many representatives from African countries other than the 10 project countries had expressed strong desire to join the project, in order to establish and improve higher education quality assurance agencies and mechanisms, while also looking forward to a new phase of the project.

Mr. QIN Changwei, Secretary-General of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO highly recognised the fruitful outcomes of the UNESCO-SFIT project, hailing it as "another remarkable achievement of China-UNESCO cooperation" and "a model of South-South and South-North-South cooperation".

Ms. Hassmik Tortian, Programme Specialist of the UNESCO Higher Education Section and UNESCO-SFIT Project Coordinator, pointed out that the project has achieved great success in supporting African countries to establish and improve higher education quality assurance agencies and systems, while also strengthening exchanges, networking and mutual recognition of higher education qualifications among quality assurance institutions in African countries. During the implementation of the UNESCO-SFIT project, the visibility of the Shenzhen Municipal government within the UNESCO system and in African countries has been greatly enhanced, and the project results will have a sustainable impact within the higher education systems of African countries.

Ms. Hassmik Tortian

Representatives from Mali, Togo, Gambia, Namibia and Senegal showcased best practices of the project. Dr. Abdel Kader KEITA, Executive Director of the Malian Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance said that the UNESCO-SFIT Africa project has achieved fruitful results in Mali. The project has supported the establishment of a national quality assurance agency, enhanced awareness of quality assurance among university teachers and students, and greatly improved the level of quality assurance in the country. He said that the project achievements in Mali were inseparable from the strong support of the Shenzhen Municipal Government.

Dr. Gibril JAW, Chief Executive Officer of the National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority of the Gambia, said that the UNESCO-SFIT project has a very positive impact on the Gambia's higher education sector and expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Shenzhen Municipal Government for its generous financial support on behalf of the Gambia government.

Prof. Koffi JONDO, President of the National Commission of Recognition, Certification of Diplomas, Degrees, Titles and Certificates, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Togo, thanked the UNESCO-SFIT project for supporting various trainings, assessments and awareness campaigns in Togo, thus fostering a quality culture in the Togolese higher education community.

Mr. Alviina Kapolo, Accreditation, Assessment and Audit Officer of the Namibian Qualifications Authority said that the UNESCO-SFIT project supported Namibia to conduct several trainings, which strengthened the professional capacity of Namibian quality assurance personnel and enhanced the level of quality assurance in Namibia.

Prof. Lamine GUEYE, Director of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance in Senegal (ANAQ-SUP), said that within the framework of the UNESCO-SFIT project, the ANAQ-SUP has developed a national strategic plan for quality assurance and conducted several trainings and evaluations. Senegal has also established a quality assurance network in French-speaking African countries (RAFANAQ) in cooperation with other African quality assurance authorities, strengthening regional quality assurance networks in Africa. On behalf of Senegal, he expressed his sincere gratitude to the Shenzhen Municipal Government and UNESCO for their support.

The UNESCO-Shenzhen Funds-in-Trust is the first cooperation project between the Shenzhen Municipal Government and UNESCO, and the first UNESCO Funds-in-Trust dedicated to higher education in developing countries. The Shenzhen government contributed $2 million to UNESCO to support the implementation of the project in Asian and African countries. Implemented in Cambodia and Sri Lanka from 2016 to 2019, the Asian project focused on ICT-driven innovation in higher education, which has effectively enhanced the blended learning capacities of universities in both countries, and laid a solid foundation for the digital transformation of higher education. The African project, implemented in ten countries (Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gambia, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, Togo, and Zambia) from 2017 to 2022, has effectively raised awareness of quality assurance in higher education in African countries, promoted institutional strengthening and capacity building for quality assurance in the project countries, and addressed the urgent needs of African countries to conduct quality assurance.

UNESCO-ICHEI has actively participated in the activities of the UNESCO-SFIT project, monitored the progress of project implementation, and promoted the project outcomes and Shenzhen's contribution to global higher education. In addition, in response to the trend of higher education development in the digital age, UNESCO-ICHEI jointly conducted research on quality assurance for online and blended teaching and learning (OBTL) with global higher education experts and UNESCO-ICHEI's partner HEIs, leading to the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE) Quality Assurance Framework and Toolkit for Driving and Supporting Online and Blended Teaching and Learning (IIOE QA 1.0). After rigorous deliberations and validation, IIOE QA 2.0 was released in 2021. At this outcome meeting, UNESCO-ICHEI presented the results of IIOE QA 2.0 to the UNESCO-SFIT project countries and UNESCO, and discussed how IIOE QA 2.0 could serve and support HEIs in developing countries.

Ms. Mona Abdel-Aal Elzahry, Assoc. Prof. Habibah Ab Jalil

Ms. BI Xiaohan, Assistant Director and Chief of Africa and West Asia Programme Office of UNESCO-ICHEI presented the content and application prospects of IIOE QA 2.0. She highlighted that OBTL has become a key strategy to reform and transform higher education, and that the IIOE QA 2.0 will be localised and implemented in IIOE partner HEIs, while also being continuously revised based on feedback from stakeholders, in order to provide inspiration for quality assurance in higher education.

After the conclusion of the UNESCO-SFIT project, a joint report on the theme of quality assurance in higher education by UNESCO-ICHEI and UNESCO will be included in the UNESCO Digital Library (UNESDOC), as a long-lasting knowledge contribution of the UNESCO-SFIT project to the global higher education community. In his concluding remarks, Professor LI Ming, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI, pointed out that the UNESCO-SFIT project has initiated cooperation between Shenzhen and UNESCO. The two parties will continue exploring cooperation in the field of education while taking into account the current and future trends of digital transformation of higher education and the needs of ICT-driven society, creating a new chapter to support education in developing countries and to promote the realisation of the Education 2030 Agenda.

Mr. Peter Wells (left) and Prof. LI Ming (right)