Verification Process of Foreign Teachers’ Qualifications Questioned by Committee
The Fiji Higher Education Commission is grappling with the issue of poorly qualified teachers coming in from abroad.
This was revealed to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence yesterday by the Commission’s deputy director Nikhat Shameem.
Ms Shameem was questioned by Opposition Member of Parliament Lenora Qereqeretabua whether the commission had any system of check in place to verify the authenticity of the qualifications of foreign teachers.
Ms Qereqeretabua said during her meetings with several lecturers last week she was told about the lingering concern of the quality of teachers being brought in from overseas particularly from India. Ms Shameem responded saying the commission has limited capacity to monitor these appointments, however they cross check qualifications when they are alerted to by education institutions.
Without notification about overseas teaching recruitments there is nothing the commission can do.
Senior accreditation officer Atelini Koroi said the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts has given the Commission a list of qualifications that needed to be verified.
“Our process requires us to look at individual applicants and try and contact the institutions from where they have acquired their qualifications to firstly confirm the country of origin, whether the awarding institution is truly a registered institution and secondly whether the awardee was a student or graduate of that institution,” she said.
“If the application sent to us is incomplete then we will not be able to give a conclusive response and answer to MEHA.
“It has not been easy, but we believe the Tokyo Convention (Asia-Pacific Convention on the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications) will help us.”
Bryce