Accreditation is done in two ways: one way (used in former British colonies) is by proposing a new university to parliament. If parliament approves, a new university is born! Its accreditation has nothing to do with what industry standards are or what peer institutions think. The North American way of accrediting private universities is like South Africa's "quality assurance institutions", who answer to the Council on Higher Education in that land. the American Accrediting institutions have to be recognized by the Department of Education. The University of the Nations cares about exceeding minimum national standards in the nations where it operates.
NOTE!! The University of the Nations is not a local university. Its American parts can be accredited locally but that accreditation will be invalid for the rest of the global institution because the same courses are offered in different languages in differnt educational systems arround the world.
As far as the University of the Nations courses offered in Zambia are concerned, the government has a very liberal policy. For now, all the programs offered by YWAM Zambia are theological in nature and the government does not regulate theological studies. Our current strategy is to network a body of professors, Pastors, and other professionals who have a heart for Christian Higher education in Zambia. The idea is to have these godly men and women donate their time to come to our part of Africa and teach a topic of their specialization in an appropriate course as their pro bono and pro Deo service.
We want the course intructors to be 33% national, 33% regional (Southern and Eastern Afica) and 33% international. The point being made is that the training of trainers in Africa is an international calling. Of course we do not want to ochestrate anything that God is not laying on the hearts of many leaders outside of our own city. We need the world to come to Livingstone and we need Livingstonians to go the whole world with something tangible to offer. At YWAM Livingstone are seriously considering launching vocational courses and we will get these accredited through TEVETA. The IBC, DTS, and SCPL do not need accreditation because they are theological in content.
The UofN is not just an international university, it is a god-given educational strategy that has the potential to change some static educational paradigms.
As a UofN student, I have inherited a network of relationships spanning the globe and I have international exposure beyond the imagination of most university students in Africa.
In conventional formal education, I have observed that exam orientation takes away from the students ability to relate the theory to real life situations. The UofN usually facilitates student learning at higher levels of retention and application by deploying the students into the field earlier. Every Bachelors degree has at least 3 Field Assignments (Practical) and the Masters degree programs have at least 2.
The typical exam is but one strategy for ensuring mastery of the principles and the content. Other evaluation formats often account for close to 60% of the students final grade. Put differently, cramming for the exam and goofing off in the rest of the semester does not work in this university. Character issues are just as important as cognitive issues. Processing the materials 4 times does help the students to retain their knowledge past when the crammer's brains have ceased to leak information.
I have earned three degrees from the UofN so I can say from my own biased perspective that from my vantage point as an African, this university is worth its place in Africa. Our challenge right now is to move fast enough in expanding our educational facilities to create economies of scale that will empower more needy students in the SADC region and beyond.
I have enjoyed studying with the University of the Nations because it has brought me closer to brothers and sisters I would never have met. I have grown to feel like a true citizen of the world, who is at home in Livingstone (Zambia), Mandeville (Jamaica), or Jacksonville (Florida). No doubt there are thousands of universities that are better than the UofN in one way or the other. However, I remain convinced that in the area of its distinctives as a Christian university, it is a pioneer. I am grateful to God for the journey I have had. Perhaps I have not described it as succinctly as you may like. My hope is that God will lay a univerisity on your heart that is congruent with his gifiting and calling on your life.
Our race in this university is not against other universities, it is against the Word of the Lord to us! Have we obeyed at the right time?
We hope to use 8 modules (Schools) to provide the building blocks for 3 Associate degrees from three faculties. These majors are in Counseling, Church Ministries, and Community Development.
Since some of these modules will be advanced undergraduate modules, we expect them to benefit advanced students who wish to include them in BA and MA programs.
We would love to fast track our students by lining up modules in such a way that students can take a module or a series of modules. There is no time pressure on UofN modules. Adult education is need oriented and UofN training is adult oriented. While we encourage a global experience, we discourage a nomadic mentality because education is for all of life.