by Curlan Campbell
- Duty of all students to conduct due diligence to avoid obtaining fake certifications from unaccredited institutions
- GNAB responsible for quality assurance and accreditation of post-secondary and tertiary-level institutions
- G-NQCF Register will be official national public record of all aligned qualifications
Over the years, there have been several international scandals involving the issue of fake certificates in higher education, 2 of which included accredited universities, namely Stanford University and Monash University. The potential for a scandal of this nature to raise its ugly head has strengthened the Grenada National Accreditation Board’s (GNAB) resolve to continue to broaden its capacity in maintaining rigorous quality control measures, especially regarding credential evaluation.
GNAB, as the entity responsible for quality assurance and accreditation of post-secondary and tertiary level institutions in Grenada, has embarked on a series of engagements with various stakeholders. On Tuesday, 9 May 2023, Permanent Secretaries from multiple government ministries gathered at the Coyaba Beach Resort to discuss the issue of the quality assurance of post-secondary programmes and institutions. The engagement highlighted the need for the Public Service Commission (PSC) to utilise the services of GNAB in completing thorough academic, professional and skills qualification background checks on prospective employees to mitigate the risk of negligent hiring.
In Grenada, the area of accreditation/quality assurance is relatively new. One of the challenges faced by GNAB is being able to educate the population effectively on the importance of credential evaluation and institution verification. Most recently, a class action lawsuit was brought against a prestigious university over a then unaccredited financial advice major, which prevented students from attaining employment in the regulated industry.
Kevin Hagley, Quality Assurance Officer at GNAB, said this situation is quite common. He explained that some accreditation agencies might require new institutions or programmes to graduate a cohort of students before the institution or programme can be recognised and accredited, allowing the accreditor to evaluate all the processes of the institution and programme before giving its stamp of approval. Students who graduated before the process of recognition/accreditation started would not be considered to have a recognised/accredited qualification because accreditation is not retroactive. Students who have started the new programme under the supervision of the Accreditation Agency “may” graduate with a recognised/accredited qualification based on the Institution’s level of compliance to the Agency’s Standards, even though at the time of graduation, the programme may not have been recognised/accredited. He noted that policies from accreditation agencies across the globe might differ so that each agency may view it differently. “It doesn’t mean that the programme is not a good one. It just means that the institution did not go through the process of ensuring that the Standards, as outlined by the accreditation agency, were met. As such, employers and other tertiary institutions may not know the value of that qualification, so choose not to hire or accept these persons into a higher-level programme.”
Accreditation Officer Dhana Mc Quilkin said the issue of obtaining fake certifications from unaccredited institutions is also real, and it is the duty of all students applying for higher education to ensure that they conduct due diligence to ensure that they are not caught in a similar situation. “Be cautious in your pursuit of higher education. Be vigilant when applying to certain programmes and institutions,” she said. “Remember that education is a business, and there are many diploma mills (fake institutions) that seek to make big profits without providing legitimate, quality education. There are also fake accrediting agencies (accreditation mills) that claim to carry out external quality assurance activities for bogus higher education institutions in order to help them look legitimate.”
She further encouraged persons to contact GNAB before applying and warned that there may be no recourse in the event of falling victim to fraud. “A student may take legal action against the institution, but there is not much that can be done otherwise.” She further explained that “employers must encourage every prospective employee to get their qualifications verified with GNAB. This helps in the reduction of academic fraud, and it helps employers to determine the credibility and knowledge level of employees.”
Merina Jessamy, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Climate Resilience, the Environment and Renewable Energy, said the engagement was fruitful and supported the need for GNAB to collaborate with the PSC to ensure that Credential Evaluation is an integral part of the hiring process. However, she said that to make this collaboration possible, PSC and the Department of Public Administration (DPA) must make a policy decision.
She expressed, “All of us are very happy with what we have learnt. It will help us to review CVs better, but we just need a policy with the effective date, which must come from the PSC. According to Grenada’s Constitution, the PSC has the mandate to hire people into public service and discipline them. We are not executive directors of ministries; we execute the decisions of Cabinet and the PSC.”
Meanwhile, as part of strengthening its administrative power, GNAB is seeking an increase in government subventions to better execute its function in ensuring effective quality assurance and accreditation of post-secondary and tertiary level institutions in Grenada.
Executive Director Pauleen Finlay announced that this is one of the mandates of GNAB’s new chairman Dr Tessa St Cyr. “This will make us more effective and give us the capacity to employ more relevant [staff] so that more work can be done at a faster rate. This will call for a bigger office where we can house the staff,” Finlay said.
GNAB is also in the process of revising its fee structure to keep the Secretariat financially viable. At present, it only costs ECD$55 (local or regional) or ECD$155 (international) to get your qualifications verified; this pales in comparison to the fees charged by the World Education Service (WES), which can be upwards of $400.
Additionally, due to changes in the education landscape and trends in higher education and qualifications, GNAB has completed a draft Bill to update the current Accreditation Act No. 15 of 2011 to ensure that it can adapt to changes in the higher education landscape.
The Executive Director of GNAB explained that there is a need for a framework that captures the new practices and policies that guide the accreditation system. She indicated that the present Act only covers brick-and-mortar universities delivering face-to-face education and does not necessarily cater for distance education and e-learning. As part of this adaptation, GNAB will soon make Grenada’s new National Qualifications & Credit Framework (G-NQCF) available, which will create a single integrated national framework for all qualifications. It will classify these qualifications based on nationally agreed criteria/standards. Each classification will be defined by learning outcomes which specify the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that the holders of the qualifications at each level are expected to acquire upon successful completion of their programme.
The G-NQCF Register of all approved programmes in Grenada will be the official national public record of all qualifications aligned to the G-NQCF levels.
During the coming months, GNAB will continue its sensitisation efforts with other stakeholders, including students, parents and the private sector.
