DHET embarks on an inspection to enforce compliance in private colleges.

RISK AWARENESS - HIGHER EDUCATION REGISTRATION

In a public alert of 16 January 2016, The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) warned public of a bogus Policing College operating in Sandton. Investigations by DHET have confirmed that the Johannesburg based Sandton Technical College, is not accredited with the Safety and Security, Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA), to offer the National Diploma in Policing programme as it alleges on its promotional posters.

The Department further refutes the college management false claims that the institution has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with some other provider to offer the National Diploma in Policing programme.

The Department wishes to warn prospecting students that this practice by the college is illegal as by law no private college can sell its operating license to a third party. Neither is it permissible for a license holder to franchise, outsource or rent its programmes.

Thus, any qualifications of the programme issued by the Sandton Technical College cannot be validated by the Department nor the relevant quality assurer and are therefore considered invalid.

The Department of Higher Education and Training is currently on a three-week long nationwide public awareness and inspection campaign aimed at enforcing compliance in the private college sector. Visits to towns and cities including Rustenburg, Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, Polokwane and Bloemfontein, are included. The campaign in partnership with the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQUA) and the Quality Councils, started on 18 January 2018 and concludes in Bloemfontein on 10 February 2018 with an inspection blitz at 28 Maitland Street and a mass awareness campaign at the taxi rank.

The fairly comprehensive list of the most important departments, divisions, councils, policies and frameworks, within which higher education standards are specified and defined, can be somewhat daunting for prospective students. The summary below should help to clarify it to some extent:

• The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), oversees universities and other higher education (HE) in South Africa. The department is responsible for the development and implementation of applicable legislation and policy.
• The National Qualifications Framework (NQF), is the set of principles and guidelines by which records of learner achievement are registered to enable national recognition of acquired skills and knowledge, thereby ensuring an integrated system that encourages life-long learning. All education and training in South Africa fits within this framework.
• The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), is a statutory body regulated in terms of the National Qualifications Framework Act No. 67 of 2008. Its members are appointed by the Minister of Higher Education and Training. SAQA is mandated by legislation to oversee the development and implementation of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).
• All private higher education institutions are governed by the Higher Education Act, 1997 and Continuing Education and Training Act, 2006. The purpose of the legislations is to ensure that institutions operate within the law, have the necessary resources, capacity and expertise to offer acceptable standards of higher education qualifications that are aligned to the NQF.

• The Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), have been established to manage the many skills development needs. Each SETA coordinates skills development in its particular sector.

• The Quality Council for Trades an Occupations (QCTO), was established in terms of the Skills Development Act. Its role is to oversee the design, implementation, assessment and certification of occupational qualifications, including trades.

As all SETA and QCTO accredited providers are now required to register with the department as private colleges, students are urged to verify the accreditation and registration status of private higher education institutions, their programmes and sites with the department, the relevant SETAs and the QCTO. Prospective students can also access the private and public higher institution registers on the Department’s website or call DHET at 0800 87 22 22.

GUIDELINES ON HOW TO HANDLE HIGHER EDUCATION REGISTRATION RISKS

Despite public universities and colleges still allowing walk-in and taking late applications, the reality is that many South African students who wants to register for education at a higher institution of learning, will not be able to do so. This will without doubt lead to many young people desperately looking for colleges or schools, many of which are unaccredited – the so-called fly-by-nights.

Article 29.3 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa

Article 29.3 states that private providers of education and training must be registered with the DHET. Saheeda Essack, director of registration of higher education institutions, DHET, said in an interview with The Daily Vox that there are two sets of legislation that govern the registration of private institutions of higher learning. “One is the Higher Education Act and the other, the Colleges Act. Alongside, we have Skills Education Training Authorities. So the very first thing a student needs to do, is to verify that the institution, the programme and the site, called the campus or branch, is registered with the department. They can do so by referring to the registrars that are available on the department of higher education’s website,” she said.

SETAs and QCTO accreditors

SETAs and QCTO are accreditation providers over and above those listed in the Higher Education and Colleges Acts. QCTO is responsible for the accreditation of skills development providers. According to the Skills Development Act, some of the functions of a SETA is to establish, register and approve learning programmes. “For SETA-accredited programs, they need to verify with the SETA directly. And with QCTO-accredited programs they need to verify with QCTO.”

Matric rewrite centres

Essack told The Daily Vox that there are various channels to prove whether a matric rewrite centre is legitimate or not. “For matric rewrites, they need to check with district offices, or the provincial education department or Umalusi. If the college [and] the programme does not appear, they need to verify what is going on,” she said. Umalusi has also provided a list of registered private matric rewrite centres and colleges throughout the country.

Qualification recognition

Essack also said that there are two parts involved in the recognition of a qualification. Firstly it needs to be registered with the NQF that monitors and records a learner’s achievement “…The second part is that the awarding body must have the legal authorities award the qualification,” she said.

The awarding bodies

The department of higher education says that students need to be fully aware and should know who the awarding bodies of qualifications in higher education are. “Awarding bodies would be a public university, a private higher education institution, the department for departmental qualifications, the SETAS and QCTOs for SETA and QCTO accredited qualifications, and Umalusi for Umalusi accredited qualifications,” she said.

Details can also be checked by calling higher education’s toll-free number on 0800 87 22 22. Alternatively, they can visit the department’s website www.dhet.gov.za or the career centre’s website www.careerhelp.org.za

CHOOSING AN EDUCATION INSTITUTION

Education is one of the most important investments of time and money that any person can make and there are many highly recognized and accredited higher education institutions in South Africa. On the other hand however, students are often exposed to unscrupulous and fraudulent private higher education institutions trying to persuade them to enroll for non-accredited and poor quality programmes. The discussion and questions under "What you really need...", were derived from Varsity College's website (Accreditation). These questions can however be considered as applicable to each higher education institution. Acknowledgement is given to Varsity College for the use of this as source information.

What you really need to know before you choose an educational institution.

Firstly, it is important to understand the difference between Higher Education (HE) and Further Education and Training (FET)

There are several private education institutions that offer qualifications that are Further Education and Training (FET). The DHET manages both these sectors and it also maintains two registers for private education institutions – one for HE and one for FET. One of the first things you need to check is which level the institution is registered on. If you want a HE qualification, you can only get that from a registered HE Institution.

Just for information – FET qualifications are "non-school" qualifications at NQF level 1 to 4 (the highest are at the same level as an NSC) and they are accredited and quality assured by Umalusi or the QCTO (normally done through their Assessment Quality Partners, the SETAs). These are valuable qualifications in trades and occupations but they are not HE.

HE qualifications are accredited by the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) for both public and private HE institutions (so that includes universities). They are all post-school level and are on levels 5 to 10 of the Higher Education Qualifications Framework (which is the top part of the National Qualifications Framework).

The following are a few of the most important questions to ask before choosing an educational institution:

• Is the institution registered by the DHET as a private higher education and training institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997 (reg. no. 2007/HE07/002)? All providers of Higher Education must be registered with the DHET.
• Is the qualification I am studying or want to study registered and at what level is it registered? A higher education qualification is one that has been accredited by the HEQC. Once it is accredited it can be registered by SAQA on the NQF. Only registered and accredited qualifications can be offered as higher education qualifications.
• How do I check qualifications on SAQA? Using www.saqa.org.za, click ‘Qualifications and Part-Qualifications’ and search for the qualification and conferring body. If you cannot find the registration details on the website, ask the institution for proof of accreditation.
• Some courses are advertised as programmes and others as qualifications. What is the difference? What is the difference between a qualification and a short learning programme? This is important as some institutions use this language to mislead. A qualification is only a qualification if it is registered on the NQF, accredited by the HEQC (if it is higher education) and registered for that institution by the DOE. It can only be those things if it meets the requirements of all three. The key thing to keep in mind is that a short learning programme or short course is not a qualification. If what you need is a particular skill for a particular reason (like promotion or upgrade of legal knowledge), a short learning programme or short course may be the right course of study for you. It is just important to know that it is NOT a qualification and can usually not be used to gain access to further study at a higher level. A National qualification or South African qualification then has to be registered and accredited here – by the Higher Education Quality Committee and it needs to be on the NQF.
• What is the Council for Higher Education (CHE) / Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC)? In order to ensure that all South African qualifications – offered by private and public institutions – are of the same standard, the HEQC is the body established by law to accredit all HE qualifications. The SETAS and Umalusi do the same for FET. The HEQC is a subcommittee of the Council for Higher Education which is a body established by the government to oversee HE – particularly its quality.
• How do I check the legitimacy of a foreign qualification? You need to check the registration of the qualification and the institution in its country of origin. If tuition is being provided in SA for that qualification, the tuition centre should be able to give you the information. You can also approach SAQA to ask them if a particular qualification would be recognised for further study in South Africa and if so at which level – they may need you to get quite a bit of detail from the other institution to do this. They will not be able to do this for you if the other qualification or institution is not registered or accredited by a recognised body in its country of origin.

• What is the difference between a public and private HE provider/institution? Public providers can be referred to as universities, universities of technology and comprehensive universities. There are 23 in South Africa. Private higher education providers, on the other hand, are owned by private organisations or individuals. Although many of them offer the same qualifications as public providers, private provider institutions are mostly privately funded (through student fees) and are not subsidised by the state. The qualifications of both public and private HE institutions must be accredited by the HEQC and registered on the NQF.