Background and Rationale of the Programme
Quality education is a worldwide concern and one of the main pillars for sustainable development. In this regard, everyone has the right not only to receive education, but also to receive education of a high quality (Fredriksson 2004). Governments agreed to provide education of quality for all (UNESCO 1990 & 2000).
Despite its multi-dimensionality, educational quality regards the process of equipping students with required competences for living and serving the dynamic and globalizing society (UNESCO, 2004; World Bank, 2018). It is in this line, Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences prepared this master program “Master of Education in Quality Education Management” to contribute in equipping students with the competencies necessary for assuming responsibilities in the educational sector at all levels leading to the enhancement of educational quality.
Under the funding of Bread for the World–Protestant Service for Development, Germany, a similar programme named “International Master Programme in Educational Quality (IMPEQ)” is delivered in cooperation between PIASS and Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg, Germany. IMPEQ started in 2013 and till now 5 cohorts have effectively completed and graduated from the program. The programme lasts two years as part-time programme with periods of attendance at Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg and at PIASS. Degrees are solely offered by Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg. Students admitted in IMPEQ are from different Sub-Saharan African Countries and till now they come from Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Rwanda, South Sudan, Zambia and Tanzania. Seeing the need and urgency of improving educational quality especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of graduates trained by IMPEQ i.e. minimum 20 students for every two years is still very limited. Documented data show that among 259 potential candidates, only 104 (40%) were admitted in the IMPEQ. Rwanda has the highest percentage of all applicants (40.5%). We are proud that even though Rwanda still constituted the highest percentage of admitted students, that is 34.6%, this is far compared to the number of candidates applying to this programme. The master of Universiyt of Bamberg, that is IMPEQ, has international recognized standards therefore MEQUAM comes with a similar quality. In Rwanda, there are different universities offering master’s programmes in education. More than a half offer programmes in subject-related didactics like English, Mathematics, etc. The rest of master’s programmes are in the areas of the curriculum as well as educational administration and management without forgetting one specialised Master’s programme of Master of Education in Special Needs Education. Though the existing programmes reflect one or the other dimensions of educational quality in an implicit way, no programme focuses so far on the current and important issue of educational quality development. No programme reflects on the questions: How quality education is conceptualised and reflected (dimensions? How should it be developed? How can it be monitored? And all of these at different (nursery, primary, secondary and university, and inter-levels (transitions)? How is it evaluated? Etc. In this framework, PIASS Master of Education in Quality Education Management stands alone in contributing to addressing this gap. This Master of Education in Quality Education Management comes timely to contribute to educational quality management both at national and international levels.