Quality Assurance in Higher Education: The Role and Approach of Professional Bodies and SETAs to Quality Assurance

November 2000

A report commissioned by the Higher Education Quality Committee

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Introduction

Background

In August 2000, the interim Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) commissioned a research study to establish the following:

• the different conceptions held by the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) and various professional bodies about their quality assurance (QA) role—including, where relevant, the current involvement, policies and procedures of the various professional councils in the approval/accreditation of higher education programmes within their respective fields of education
• the envisaged scope of their quality assurance role—that is, what types of higher education programmes they intend to include
• their perceptions of interrelationships between SETAs, professional bodies and the HEQC with respect to the accreditation of institutions that offer higher education programmes.

It is expected that this research represents an initial step in the evolving process of exploring possible relationships between the HEQC and other ETQAs. This document, as well as the supporting documents, will be circulated to all other ETQAs, potential ETQAs and professional bodies. It is intended that they will serve as the basis for further discussion. Among other issues, it is hoped that one eventual result will be a better understanding of the necessary components of a contractual relationship between the SETAs, professional councils and the HEQC.