Terms of Reference
Short-term International Consultancy
Development of Franchise models and Quality Assurance for the African Leadership in ICT (ALICT) course
Building Leadership Capacities for ICT and Knowledge Societies in Africa
Building Leadership Capacities for ICT and Knowledge Societies in Africa
Type: Consultancy (Short term)
Start date: 19th October 2015
Finish date: 11th December 2015
Number of working days: 25 for franchising consultant, 15 days for quality assurance consultant over a period of 2 months (work from home)
Background:
GESCI, the Global E-Schools and Communities Initiative, is a non-profit organisation founded by the United Nations ICT Taskforce. GESCI, with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, provides strategic advice to relevant Ministries in developing countries on the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the context of inclusive Knowledge Societies. See www.gesci.org.
GESCI in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC) and other partners developed the African Leadership in ICT (ALICT) capacity building programme which successfully graduated 436 participants across 13 Eastern, Southern and West African countries and from the AUC. The ALICT programme is now being implemented in 3 Francophone West and North African countries. The ALICT course presents a multi-stakeholder approach for capacity building and awareness raising of African leaders on the issues of the Knowledge Society, ICT, Education, Science & Technology and Innovation in support of the AUC Action Plan.
Start date: 19th October 2015
Finish date: 11th December 2015
Number of working days: 25 for franchising consultant, 15 days for quality assurance consultant over a period of 2 months (work from home)
Background:
GESCI, the Global E-Schools and Communities Initiative, is a non-profit organisation founded by the United Nations ICT Taskforce. GESCI, with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, provides strategic advice to relevant Ministries in developing countries on the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the context of inclusive Knowledge Societies. See www.gesci.org.
GESCI in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC) and other partners developed the African Leadership in ICT (ALICT) capacity building programme which successfully graduated 436 participants across 13 Eastern, Southern and West African countries and from the AUC. The ALICT programme is now being implemented in 3 Francophone West and North African countries. The ALICT course presents a multi-stakeholder approach for capacity building and awareness raising of African leaders on the issues of the Knowledge Society, ICT, Education, Science & Technology and Innovation in support of the AUC Action Plan.
GESCI is seeking an experienced consulting firm or consortium of individuals to develop Franchise models and a Quality Assurance system for the ALICT course delivery through partnerships. The consultants / experts should have a Master’s degree or higher and comprehensive knowledge of and experience in developing Franchise models and comprehensive Quality Assurance system for Blended Learning course delivery.
The consultancy is required to carry out the following tasks:
For Franchise Models:
- Identify and propose relevant franchise/licensing models to GESCI and provide evidence (cases) why these models would be feasible for GESCI
- Provide support and guidelines to build a contract for franchising the ALICT course with a selected franchisee
- Propose financing model(s) for franchising that have been tested
- Identify the legal issues that will affect franchising as per the proposed model/s
- Identify Partner organisation and GESCI roles and responsibilities in statutory and non-statutory IPRs
- Identify the rules, restrictions and obligations of the franchiser (GESCI) and franchisee (University/partner) regarding the successful delivery of the ALICT course including the following;
• Certification
• Recruitment of students
• Selection of students, selection by partner and /or GESCI
• Registration of students: partner university subject to its academic regulations, including those relating to academic appeals
• Partner institution’s role in the delivery of the programme, the provision of learning resources and student support
• GESCI’s role to provide the partner institution with the relevant capacity building on: use of course content, platform and delivery of the course
• GESCI branding in franchising contracts and documents that will be used in the different phases of the ALICT course delivery and certification
• The utilization of the eLearning platform.
The consultancy is required to carry out the following tasks:
For Franchise Models:
- Identify and propose relevant franchise/licensing models to GESCI and provide evidence (cases) why these models would be feasible for GESCI
- Provide support and guidelines to build a contract for franchising the ALICT course with a selected franchisee
- Propose financing model(s) for franchising that have been tested
- Identify the legal issues that will affect franchising as per the proposed model/s
- Identify Partner organisation and GESCI roles and responsibilities in statutory and non-statutory IPRs
- Identify the rules, restrictions and obligations of the franchiser (GESCI) and franchisee (University/partner) regarding the successful delivery of the ALICT course including the following;
• Certification
• Recruitment of students
• Selection of students, selection by partner and /or GESCI
• Registration of students: partner university subject to its academic regulations, including those relating to academic appeals
• Partner institution’s role in the delivery of the programme, the provision of learning resources and student support
• GESCI’s role to provide the partner institution with the relevant capacity building on: use of course content, platform and delivery of the course
• GESCI branding in franchising contracts and documents that will be used in the different phases of the ALICT course delivery and certification
• The utilization of the eLearning platform.
- Provide guidelines, how GESCI’s IPRs are retained when any improvements/modifications are made to the course content/delivery mechanism and processes.
- Define the process, steps that would lead to franchising a delivery agent, and the documents required for each step
- Develop the criteria that should be considered when selecting franchisee including risk analysis
- Identify the relevant franchise regulations regarding disputes between franchiser and franchisee, terms and conditions of the franchise, as well as the process for termination of a franchising agreement, if necessary
- Develop outlines/templates as required for each of the franchise models proposed
- Define the process, steps that would lead to franchising a delivery agent, and the documents required for each step
- Develop the criteria that should be considered when selecting franchisee including risk analysis
- Identify the relevant franchise regulations regarding disputes between franchiser and franchisee, terms and conditions of the franchise, as well as the process for termination of a franchising agreement, if necessary
- Develop outlines/templates as required for each of the franchise models proposed
For Quality Assurance System:
- Define the roles and responsibilities (GESCI and the Franchisee) in:
• Development of a coherent institutional quality assurance system for the ALICT course delivery that forms a cycle for continuous improvement aligned to the Bologna Process standards and requirements
• Development of framework, policy, procedures and guidelines with regard to:
• Internal and external quality assurance procedures, processes and protocols
- Development of QA criteria to evaluate/monitor:
• The quality of student learning materials and course content
• Quality of delivery (learning facilitator and environment)
• The academic standards of the award(s) (Franchisee in collaboration with GESCI)
• Academic accreditation and certification
- Development of assessment criteria of course work by GESCI and the Franchisee
- Moderation of assessment of assignments (external moderation)
- Developing a tutoring recruitment and evaluation process
• Development of a coherent institutional quality assurance system for the ALICT course delivery that forms a cycle for continuous improvement aligned to the Bologna Process standards and requirements
• Development of framework, policy, procedures and guidelines with regard to:
• Internal and external quality assurance procedures, processes and protocols
- Development of QA criteria to evaluate/monitor:
• The quality of student learning materials and course content
• Quality of delivery (learning facilitator and environment)
• The academic standards of the award(s) (Franchisee in collaboration with GESCI)
• Academic accreditation and certification
- Development of assessment criteria of course work by GESCI and the Franchisee
- Moderation of assessment of assignments (external moderation)
- Developing a tutoring recruitment and evaluation process
Requirements for the consultants:
Franchise Consultant:
- Master’s degree in Business Administration, Education Economics, Finance, or related field
- Must be certified franchise consultant/analyst
- Minimum 8 years’ business management experience in franchising, with 5 years franchising experience
- Franchising experience in the education and training field preferably in e-learning and online education
- Refined analytical skills to identify and interpret financial, legal and developmental requirements for the franchising options proposed
- Demonstrated and successful ability to develop and implement franchising agreements
- Strong oral and written communication skills and excellent critical thinking/problem-solving abilities.
- Must provide 2 related recent references
Franchise Consultant:
- Master’s degree in Business Administration, Education Economics, Finance, or related field
- Must be certified franchise consultant/analyst
- Minimum 8 years’ business management experience in franchising, with 5 years franchising experience
- Franchising experience in the education and training field preferably in e-learning and online education
- Refined analytical skills to identify and interpret financial, legal and developmental requirements for the franchising options proposed
- Demonstrated and successful ability to develop and implement franchising agreements
- Strong oral and written communication skills and excellent critical thinking/problem-solving abilities.
- Must provide 2 related recent references
QA Consultant:
- Demonstrated and successful experience in developing and implementing QA and performance enhancement plans and procedures in higher education
- Master’s degree or higher (PhD preferred) in any relevant discipline with higher education management and teaching experience
- Refined analytical skills to identify and interpret Quality Assurance of Blended Learning Models
- Demonstrated and successful ability to develop a comprehensive Quality Assurance model for higher learning academic programmes preferably Blended Learning Programmes
- Strong oral and written communication skills and excellent critical thinking/problem-solving abilities.
- Must provide 2 relevant and recent references
- Master’s degree or higher (PhD preferred) in any relevant discipline with higher education management and teaching experience
- Refined analytical skills to identify and interpret Quality Assurance of Blended Learning Models
- Demonstrated and successful ability to develop a comprehensive Quality Assurance model for higher learning academic programmes preferably Blended Learning Programmes
- Strong oral and written communication skills and excellent critical thinking/problem-solving abilities.
- Must provide 2 relevant and recent references
Deliverables:
For Franchising:
- Franchise model(s) with case studies and financing options
- Documentation presenting the process for selecting a franchisee
- Documents / contracts / templates that need to be used at different stages of franchisee process
- Franchising agreement template
- Franchise model(s) with case studies and financing options
- Documentation presenting the process for selecting a franchisee
- Documents / contracts / templates that need to be used at different stages of franchisee process
- Franchising agreement template
For Quality Assurance:
- QA framework , strategy, guidelines, templates/protocols and action plan
- QA criteria as outlined in tasks
- QA framework , strategy, guidelines, templates/protocols and action plan
- QA criteria as outlined in tasks
Time lines for deliverables:
- Virtual meetings with GESCI officials and ALICT course Management team to understand the requirements of the course and GESCI context – by end of Week 2
- Submission of the Franchise and QA models – Frist draft by end of Week 5
- Interactive discussions between consultants and GESCI team including feedback on the first draft – by end of Week 7
- Submission of final document – by end of Week 8
- Virtual meetings with GESCI officials and ALICT course Management team to understand the requirements of the course and GESCI context – by end of Week 2
- Submission of the Franchise and QA models – Frist draft by end of Week 5
- Interactive discussions between consultants and GESCI team including feedback on the first draft – by end of Week 7
- Submission of final document – by end of Week 8
Duration: The time frame for the consultancy assignment is as below:
- Start date: 19th October 2015
- Finish date: 11th December 2015
- Finish date: 11th December 2015
Consultancy Fee:
The consultancy fee will be Euro 15,000/- (Euro – Fifteen thousand only). This amount is inclusive of 20 % withholding tax under Kenyan legislation for external consultants.
The consultancy fee will be Euro 15,000/- (Euro – Fifteen thousand only). This amount is inclusive of 20 % withholding tax under Kenyan legislation for external consultants.
Payment schedule:
• 50% upon completion of first draft of Franchising and Quality Assurance
• 50% upon completion of final report and approval by GESCI
• 50% upon completion of first draft of Franchising and Quality Assurance
• 50% upon completion of final report and approval by GESCI
Confidentiality and Copyright:
The consultant will be required to sign a confidentiality clause whereby information accessed through the ALICT franchising and OA development process can only be disclosed and shared with authorized members of GESCI. GESCI will have ownership over any Intellectual Property developed for or derived from this consultancy engagement.
GESCI hereby invites qualified individuals to submit proposals for the franchising model/s and Quality Assurance development consultancy of the ALICT course. Proposals are due on or before 5th October 2015. The proposal, with detailed CV should be sent to Patti Swarts, Director of Programmes, to the following email address: patti.swarts@gesci.org.
