Mentorship as a Tool for Quality Assurance in Higher Education: The Case of Cameroon

The rapid proliferation of Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) in Sub-Saharan Africa has necessitated decentralized Quality Assurance (QA) mechanisms. In Cameroon, the state mandated the Tutelle Académique (Mentorship) policy, requiring all PHEIs to operate under the academic supervision of established state universities. While theoretically designed to ensure pedagogic standards, the empirical efficacy of this model remains contested. Anchored in Agency Theory and Neo-Institutional Theory, this study utilizes a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design to investigate the operational dynamics of this mentorship framework. Quantitative survey data from 312 lecturers and students across ten PHEIs revealed significant deficits in Mentorship Visibility (Mean = 2.45) and Assessment Integrity (Mean = 2.80). Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that while Assessment Integrity (β = 0.435) and Curriculum Alignment (β = 0.380) are robust predictors of perceived academic quality, their practical implementation is fundamentally failing. Thematic analysis of 12 in-depth interviews with academic stakeholders revealed that systemic capacity overloads and profound financial conflicts of interest have reduced the mentorship framework to an administrative tax. State universities, financially incentivized by lucrative mentorship fees, are disincentivized from enforcing rigorous oversight, leading to institutional decoupling and the emergence of "paper partnerships." The study concludes that the commercialization of QA under academic capitalism undermines educational rigor. It recommends the digitalization of auditing and the financial decoupling of mentorship transactions to restore academic integrity.