INSPECTORS SLAM TWO HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Two of Mozambique’s higher education institutions are at risk of closure following a damning report from the education inspectorate of the Ministry of Education.The report into the Mussa Bin Bique University, headquartered in Nampula, and the Alberto Chipande Higher Institute of Science and Technology in Beira, was presented on Thursday during a meeting in Maputo of the Higher Education Council (CES).According to a report in Friday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the inspectors found that neither institution has premises if its own. Instead, they operate out of rented buildings that are inadequate either for teaching or for administration. In both cases, the teaching staff is not large enough and consists mostly of people who have only recently graduated from university themselves, and have no proper training as teachers.Furthermore the two institutions have inadequate libraries and there is no internet access for their students. There was also lack of dialogue between the management and the teaching staff, as well as insufficient coordination with the Ministry of Education.This is not the first time that Mussa bin Bique University has come under withering criticism. It has been the subject of a power struggle between two Islamic groups in Nampula, one headed by former Justice Minister (and recently appointed Ombudsman) Jose Abudo, and the other by Momade Bay, chairperson of the Islamic Training Centre (CPI), the body which owns the university.In mid-2011, Bay announced that faculties opened by Abudo in the towns of Mocuba and Pebane, in Zambezia province, were being closed down because they were operating illegally.In May 2011, the government threatened to close the University unless it corrected all irregularities. Almost 18 months later, there does not appear to have been a great improvement.The report to the CES concluded “the team of inspectors recommend the observance of the legislation”. The two institutions “should do more so that the surrounding community feels their presence, and should take the responsibility for training teaching staff”.