TRANSITIONING HIGHER EDUCATION REGULATORS AND UNIVERSITIES TO COMPETENCE BASED EDUCATION IN EAST AND WEST AFRICA

ongoing

The TRUCE project responds to the urgent need to transition African higher education from traditional, teacher‐centered approaches to Competency-Based Education (CBE) as a means to tackle youth unemployment and equip graduates with practical, entrepreneurial skills. In both Ghana and Uganda, where CBE has been adopted in lower secondary schools and vocational training respectively, universities remain entrenched in outdated pedagogies despite governmental directives. To address this gap, the TRUCE consortium—which includes leading universities (Makerere, Mountains of the Moon, University of Ghana, University of Education Winneba, University of Barcelona, and Polytechnic Institute of Porto), RUFORUM, and education regulatory bodies in Uganda and Ghana—will collaboratively develop adapted CBE tools. These include modules, frameworks, rubrics, guidelines, and protocols for assessment, planning, and accreditation. The project’s overarching objective is to build the capacity of universities and education regulators to manage the transition to CBE effectively, thereby enhancing HEI value creation for society and the economy. Specifically, TRUCE aims to (i) strengthen institutional capacity for managing the CBE transition, (ii) develop industry-engaged guidelines for curriculum design and assessment, (iii) create a community of practice of champions to drive scale-up, and (iv) support regulators and faculty in delivering CBE support services at multiple levels. The project is organized into five work packages covering management, development and piloting of CBE guidelines, creation of a collaborative learning ecosystem, capacity building for stakeholders, and dissemination, impact, and scaling—all underpinned by a participatory, design-based implementation research approach that fosters innovation and strategic partnership.