UniSey charts way forward |03 May 2017

The University of Seychelles (UniSey) is expected to follow new reviewed guidelines and regulations which will guide it in its work for the future.

This is in the form of a charter signed yesterday by the Minister for Education and Human Resource Development Joël Morgan alongside UniSey’s vice-chancellor Professor Denis Hardy in the minister’s conference room, Mont Fleuri.

Also present were principal secretaries, chancellor of the University of Seychelles, high officials of the ministry, members of the tertiary education committee (Tec) and members of the UniSey management committee among other staff members.

A charter can be defined as a legal instrument regulating the activities of a tertiary education establishment approved by the minister for education on the recommendation of the Tec.

The last charter was signed in 2011 and since then the university has evolved by leaps and bounds and the signing lays the foundation for it to grow even further.

Prior to 2011 the university had been governed by the Education Act 2004, which made provision for a university to exist.

Minister Morgan said the signing is an important development for our education system as it re-establishes and changes the status and the legal basis of UniSey.

He said the Tertiary Education Act 2011 has gone a lot further by providing legislation which governs the types of universities which may be established, the structures of those universities and the powers of its officers. 

“Since its creation in 2012, the Tec together with the Ministry of Education, have been working towards the implementation of the statutes set out in the Tertiary Education Act 2011.  In this new landscape, all tertiary education institutions, university or non-university, have to be established on the basis of a charter,” he said.

He said it is an instrument of self-governance.

“It includes regulations pertaining to programmes, fees, governance bodies and administrative units, appointment of institutional and administrative managers, terms and conditions of employees, including academic staff, duties, rights and privileges of the academic and professional staff, interests and duties of learners, appointment of committees for settlement of disputes, assets and keeping of accounts and appeals,” he said.

Minister Morgan extended his appreciation to the team who worked on the development of the charter, the chief executive (CEO) of Tec Jean Michel Domingue and the monitoring and evaluation officer who coordinated the work in close collaboration with the university.

He also congratulated Professor Hardy and UniSey management on this achievement. 

“I wish you much success in its implementation,” he said.        

Professor Hardy said the charter does more than provide authority; it can also define what the university can and cannot do.

“It is very important for the university to have this clarity. Unlike many other organisations, the university has rights and responsibilities which need to be very carefully drafted,” he said.

He said it has the right to operate and the great privilege to operate academic freedom, to be able to speak our mind and to question others including the government if they believe there are solid grounds to doing so.

“That freedom is not unfettered, there are limits to freedom and we have to be responsible in the way that we operate and we hope we are a lively body,” he said.

He said they have a very ambitious agenda in the education sector and the charter will guide them in their work for the future.