Where demand is high, there is a likelihood of high fraudulence as well. The education sector is one of the sectors facing an increase in the number of individuals presenting different qualifications some of which do not meet the standards set under qualifications frameworks across the region. The Ministry of Higher Education has since cautioned parents and industry against fraudulent qualifications offered by training institutions that were not in conformity with the Zambia Qualifications Framework (ZQF) and appropriate regulatory authorities’ quality assurance requirements. Ministry of Higher Education Permanent Secretary (PS), Mabvuto Sakala said “high demand for qualifications creates room for fake qualifications and questionable colleges and universities entering the training environment offering seemingly credible qualifications at face value that in reality do not meet their prima facie value.” Speaking during the stakeholders engagement workshop on the Zambia Qualifications Framework, Mr. Sakala further said there was a rise in incidences of individuals presenting bogus qualifications that affected quality of work, risked economic productivity, national progress and institutions’ credibility [employers of persons with fake qualifications and institutions purported to be awarders of those qualifications] as well as the integrity of the nation’s education system and qualification framework. “Employers should be careful with those they are employing because the training environment is flooded by fraudsters locally and from abroad. Parents should also be careful where they send their children to acquire qualifications to avoiding falling in the trap of spending on qualifications that do not take their children anywhere. Training institutions offering problematic qualifications are many, hence the need to be cautious. We may be careful with local ones, but those from abroad will dupe us if we are not cautious. We all have to watch out for them and consult regulatory authorities when it doubt. Training institutions are after money, it is these regulatory authorities that can bring sanity in training by ensuring quality is adhered to in all programmes,” Mr. Sakala added. And Zambia Qualifications Authority CEO, Mirriam Chiyaba said the Zambia Qualifications Framework (ZQF) was a way of standardising qualifications and smoothening progression from lower to higher qualifications in Zambia in an internationally comparable manner. She noted that the ZQF streamlined qualifications for mobility and progression in the labour market and learning institutions with enhanced quality for full growth of each learner. The CEO contended that universities should have a Senate for quality assurance purposes and colleges should have a competent awarding bodies of its qualifications either locally or abroad for those qualifications to be admissible locally and regionally on the qualifications framework (ZQF) and SADC Qualifications Framework. “That is why implementation of the ZQF requires input from regulatory agencies and qualifications awarding bodies within the country or abroad.” She elaborated that registration of qualifications and their outcomes [qualification descriptors] were aligned the SADC, AU and UNESCO qualifications frameworks for purposes of conformity to continental and global educational standards. A Statutory Instrument was done by the Ministry of Higher Education to empower ZAQA to register all qualifications that met the requirements of the Zambia Qualifications Framework. Primarily, training providers [mostly universities] made their programmes and awarded qualifications. But with the Statutory Instrument, programmes will be evaluated by ZAQA, Higher Education Authority, TEVETA and other appropriate regulatory agencies for registration on the ZQF. Unregistered qualifications will not be recognised. Registration and integration of qualifications provides mobility and progression within training and career pathways as well as enabling the industry to understand qualifications and accordingly interpret either for according commensurate pay or job progression from one stage to another. The registration of qualifications will be at two levels; registration of a programme and registration of a qualification as a learning achievement [the qualification obtained by the learner. The learning achievement can be a certificate in Marketing]. The learning achievement will be in terms of; name, when it was one, who did it and from which institution. The registration will be done on the Qualifications Management Information System under the Zambia Qualifications Authority. The registration on the ZQF will include 1) naming of a qualification 2) level of the qualification 3) qualification descriptors or characteristics of a given qualification at a particular level such as ability to read and write at primary school level. It also entails that curriculum development will be benchmarked against the level that curriculum seeks be trained on. For example, a diploma curriculum to be in relation to 7 of the ZQF. Qualifications level descriptors determine comparability of curriculum for a given qualification across the globe. Qualifications level descriptors describe outcomes of a full qualification. They serve as reference points. These level descriptors can be 1) fundamental 2) practical and 3) reflective competences. Curricula should thus be done in relation to the ZQF level descriptors or learning outcomes expected of an individual who obtained a full qualification. The starting point in curriculum development are job profiles and occupation standards that were facilitated by appropriate institutions [such as TEVETA] and professional bodies to ensure that learning reflects what the industry wants to see in graduates.


TEVETA Zambia 2024. (MOTS statutory agency)