PROPOSED REVISION AND INTRODUCTION OF FEES UNDER THE HIGHER EDUCATION AUTHORITY

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) is a statutory body established by the Higher Education Authority Act No. 4 of 2013. The mandate of the Authority is to regulate and monitor standards in higher education institutions (HEIs) in order to ensure quality services and contribute to enhancement of human capital and accelerated national development. The establishment of the Authority became imperative following legislative changes by government in the early 90’s that allowed for private sector participation in the provision of higher education services, resulting in a proliferation of higher education institutions in the country. The HEIs were, however, not regulated and thus the quality of the higher education was not assured, hence the establishment of the HEA to regulate the sector.

The Higher Education Authority intends to revise and introduce fees under the Higher Education Act. 

The regulations will provide for the following:

1. Registration criteria for the following types of HEIs: Colleges, University Colleges, Technical University Colleges, Technical Universities, Universities, Institutes and Institutions offering specialised professional training. Registration facilitates private sector participation in higher education and thereby expanding access to tertiary education. This regulation will provide criteria for registration of the various types of HEIs, revise the current registration fees and introduce new ones for new categories of HEIs. This will also facilitate participation of experts in the registration process.
2. Accreditation of learning programmes and Renewal of Accreditation: This regulation will provide for criteria for both the accreditation and renewal of accreditation. The regulation will also provide for revision of fees in order to facilitate the engagement of more learning programme experts in the evaluation of learning programmes. The engagement of more experts will enhance the objectivity of the process and improve on turnaround time. The fees will cater for administrative costs related to accreditation of learning programmes and introduction of fees for renewal of accreditation.
3. Institutional Audits: This regulation introduces annual institutional audits and accompanying fees in order to enhance compliance to quality standards. This will also facilitate participation of experts in the institutional audit process. Institutional audits will also facilitate for annual renewal of registration of HEIs.
4. Affiliation of HEIs: This regulation will introduce the criteria for affiliation of HEIs for approval by HEA and the accompanying fees to defray administrative costs. This regulation is important as it will allow the authority to monitor adherence to set standards in higher education.   
5. Learning programme audits: This regulation will provide for criteria for learning programme audit in order to ensure adherence to set standards in the implementation of the learning programmes. The annual levy will be revised to facilitate administrative costs for carrying out audits for learning programme.
6. Surveillances and Inspections of HEIs: this regulation will provide procedures for conducting surveillances and inspections in order to curb illegal operations in the higher education sector. This will safeguard the quality of higher education in Zambia.
7. Classification of HEIs: the regulation will revise the criteria for classification and re-classification of HEIs. The annual levy will be revised to facilitate administrative costs for carrying out classification and re-classification of HEIs.

The Higher Education Authority invites stakeholder comments on the proposal.