Council to oversee region

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have set up an inter-university council for East Africa to coordinate higher education in the region.

The three states have contributed $925,000 (Pounds 615,000) towards the project to enable the council to take a leading role in university curriculum reform and advise governments on new investments in higher education.

The council will also harmonise admission criteria in collaboration with national accreditation and examination boards. The move is expected to impose academic discipline in 26 public and private universities in the region.

Pius Ng'wandu, Tanzania's minister for science and technology, said the three members of East African Cooperation have agreed to unify education programmes to encourage student and staff movement in the region.

"The council will assume a pivotal role in advising governments and universities on how to curb the brain drain from public universities," Mr Ng'wandu said.

The council will identify the learning needs of the universities and standardise salaries and other terms of service for academic staff. A comprehensive electronic network linking all the universities in the region will be established for information exchange and research.