By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK
Namcol and its Botswana counterpart Bocodol on Friday signed a quality assurance criteria agreement.
“This agreement is to be used as a collective tool for a systematic approach to quality assurance of our programmes and services,” said Namcol’s director Herold Murangi at the signing ceremony.
The common quality assurance criteria was developed by a combined team of the two institutions.
“As some of you may recall, auditors of Bocodol have been frequenting our offices since Monday this week. This audit is the fourth in the series of external audits between Namcol and Bocodol, and follows shortly on a similar audit conducted by our team of auditors on Bocodol in Gaborone during October last year, an enriching exercise,” Murangi said.
According to him, the value of external audits resides in the fact that it offers institutions valuable opportunities to consider their systems and operations from a fresh perspective.
“Non-conformities emanating from the audit will be addressed without fail and recommendations will be taken forward. Namcol and Bocodol are critical reference points on open and distance learning in our sub-region,” he said.
In Murangi’s view, the two education institutions play a key role in national socioeconomic development initiatives in their respective countries.
“I must say that the relationship between Namcol and Bocodol has developed from strength to strength. This development is an envy of many observers in the region who consider our two institutions as centres of excellence,” he asserted.
“In the fullness of time, I believe that open and distance learning will constitute a prime strategy for education in the knowledge-based society, where regular updating of knowledge and skills of the people are the fundamental basis for socio-economic development,” the Namcol boss concluded.