Published Article / Quality Assurance has changed drastically in the last five years and these changes have impacted heavily on the operation of Higher Education Institutions in South Africa. The paper will review the process of quality assurance from as early as Certification of Council of Technikons Education (SERTEC) and Quality Promotion Unit (QPU) days. SERTEC and QPU did, pave the way for the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) to perform its roles as assigned by the Council of Higher Education (CHE).

This study analyzes the process of the diffusion of structures and practices in an organizational setting using the theory of new institutionalism as the theoretical basis. The explanation of the diffusion process has been subject to major variations due to epistemological and ontological reasons. Former theories of organizational reality looked at organizations as their sole units of analyses and accounted for the diffusion process accordingly / however, today, it is widely observed and accepted that organizational behavior is shaped by historical and environmental factors. This investigation aims to provide evidence for how certain structures and practices diffuse through organizational settings while others do not. Consequently, a qualitative design was conducted to explore the diffusion process in the case of the Council of Higher Education, a high-level bureaucratic organization in Turkey. Fifteen key informants, present or former university rectors and members of the Council, were interviewed and the accumulated data were analyzed qualitatively. Also, the findings were matched and supported with relevant documents analyzed additionally. The findings drawn from the investigation indicate that the emergence of the Council implicates a pattern visible throughout the history of Turkish higher education. The Council is spotted as an important agent in redefining Turkish higher education and thus creating a new organizational field for it. Yet, highly dynamic and interactive face of today&rsquo / s higher education calls for reconsideration of the Council and its functions. A major conclusion that can be reached in this context is that the issue of legitimacy depends on the satisfaction of several demands and expectations at various levels. Therefore, even a formal and regulative organization, such as the Council of Higher Education is prone to the pressures of the organizational field it operates within and is called upon to redefine its structures and implementations accordingly in order to secure its legitimacy.

Thesis (MPA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-177). Also available via the Internet.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study investigated the administration of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for undergraduate students and its impact on the students' academic progress at a Historically Black University (HBU) in the Western Cape Province. It therefore dealt with the students' inability to fund their university education and the challenges they experienced because of the way in which NSFAS was administered at the university. The aim of the study was to investigate how the financial assistance received from NSFAS, or a lack thereof, impacted on the students' academic progress, and ultimately, their retention and success. The objective was to arrive at recommendations that could improve the process and enable the students to concentrate on their academic studies without financial stress and agony.

Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The Further Education and Training (FET) and Higher Education and Training (HET) bands in South Africa are characterised by major challenges resulting in the high rate of unemployment in the country despite the promulgation of a plethora of transformative pieces of legislation post-1994. These challenges include failure by post-matric applicants to meet minimum university requirements for admission; unemployed graduates; and tension within the higher education and Training (HET) band among various quality assurance bodies and explicit mutual doubt about each other’s capacity to perform quality assurance of HE learning programmes. In an endeavour to find solutions to these problems, the researcher contemplated whether the cause could not be the current system of quality assurance in South Africa. This perception has dominated the current discourse on quality assurance, which has warranted a need for research in this area to find concrete answers to the current problems, as well as potential solutions. In this study, the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) are used as units of analysis to determine the veracity of the arguments pervading the current quality assurance discourse that there are uneven levels for quality and different and presumably inconsistent varying capacities for quality assurance in the current education system. The objective of the study was to test the veracity of this hypothesis for the purposes of making recommendations informed by concrete and scientific empirical data. The major findings of this study are that the South African Qualification Authority (SAQA) policy, requiring CHE and the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) to coordinate the entire HET band, has not been implemented as envisaged. The degrees of quality assurance and capacity for quality assurance in South Africa vary dramatically between the SETAs and CHE and also among the SETAs when compared with one another, and there is a lack of consistency and co-ordination at National Qualification Framework (NQF) Level 5. Furthermore, the current legislative framework underpinning the SETAs and CHE is fundamentally contradictory. On the basis of these findings it is recommended that the current quality assurance and accreditation system be overhauled by bringing about one council responsible for the quality assurance and accreditation of all workplace and vocationally orientated learning programmes in line with international best practices. CHE should concentrate on learning programmes that are academically orientated. Lastly, the current legislative framework governing the operations of SETAs and CHE should be amended.

The first cycle of quality assurance (QA) was conceptualised and developed between 2001 and 2004 as reflected in the policy documents of the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC). The HEQC as the national QA agency was created as the permanent sub-committee of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) to take care of the QA responsibility in 2001. The national QA agency had to operate within the divisions created in higher education under apartheid, which often created perceptions based on prejudice about the distribution of quality. The South African higher education landscape has been exposed to the first cycle of the Higher Education Quality Committee QA cycle during which conducted 34 institutional audits, accredited approximately 5000 new programmes, subjected 85 programmes to national reviews, trained approximately 550 institutional auditors and 1500 programme evaluators and conducted many workshops and training opportunities for higher education institutions (HEIs). The main aim posed by this study was to determine the response of HEIs to the recommendations in the HEQC audit reports. The sub-questions of the research are (i) What process was followed to develop the quality improvement plan? (ii) Who were the role-players in the development of the quality improvement plan? (iii) What influenced their actions in the development of the quality improvement plan? (iv) What value did the quality improvement plan development have for the institution? (v) How does the quality improvement plan fit into the comprehensive quality management system of the institution? To answer the research questions, interviews were carried out on six participants. The findings were that the primary research question has been addressed conclusively by the three institutions through the experience of participants. The responses indicate how they have embraced improvement at the respective institutions which in turn have grown as a result of the HEQC audit process. The conclusion was an in depth response to the recommendations in the audit reports, illustrating ownership of quality improvement plan processes within the institutions. From the results of the secondary research questions it is concluded that the participants’ responses provided the richness of the quality improvement plan process in the audit process. The responses reflected and confirmed the processes followed in developing the quality improvement plans and the role and influence of role- players in the quality improvement plan process. The responses reflected the value of this process and revealed how it had been incorporated into the comprehensive annual planning processes of the institutions. The study concludes that the participating institutions responded differently and effectively to the recommendations in the HEQC audit reports, with the improvement reflected in the manner and approach institutions displayed when responding to recommendations, reflecting systematic processes. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / South African society is regulated by inequality and discrimination based on race. Fundamental human rights and privileges have been extended only to a small sector of the population. The majority of South African citizens remain constrained within a context of imposed inferiority in every aspect of their lives. Inequality, entrenched in political and economic apartheid structures, is also reflected in educational provision for Black citizens. Decades of apartheid schooling have resulted in a large population of illiterate, low-literate and educationally disadvantaged adults. Educational, political and economic discrimination all contribute to relegate Blacks to the lowest socioeconomic strata of South African society. Since numerous Blacks, particularly Africans, are restricted from effectively learning in South African schools, there is an escalating need for compensatory adult education Segregation and unequal educational provision have always characterized education in South Africa. The system of apartheid schooling was formalized by the government in 1953 when different education systems for distinct population groups were introduced. Inequalities in the structural features of apartheid schooling were evident in the discriminatory allocation of funds for public education. In 1953 government funds allocated for the education of each White child were approximately R128 (Rands), for every Indian and Coloured child R40, and for every African child R17 (a 7:1 ratio between the 'White and the African allocations). In 1976, the year of uprising by school children in Soweto, the discrepancy in allocation of educational funds had widened to a 10:1 ratio with the White allocation rising to R724, Indian to R357, Coloured to R226, and Africans to only R71 (Horrell, 1982, p. 115). At that time White, Indian and Coloured children were provided with at least ten years of free compulsory schooling. Nonetheless, the unequal distribution of educational funds afforded White children better educational facilities and better qualified teachers than those provided for other racial groups. The deliberate system of uneven educational provision for the various population registration groups was reinforced in the early 1960's with the progressive extension of free and compulsory schooling to Coloureds and Indians. This was done through the Coloured Person's Education Act of 1963 and the Indian Education Act of 1965. Africans, who constituted the majority of the population and who could least afford to pay for education, were not granted free and compulsory education until almost 20 years later. Not unexpectedly, failure and drop out rates among Africans within this system were very high, with the majority of school goers not staying beyond primary school (seven years) (Christie, 1986). Until the 1970's approximately 70 percent of Africans attending schools were attending primary school, and less than 1 percent of Africans were in Matric, the final year of formal schooling in South Africa (Christie, 1986, p. 56).In the late 1970's the White-controlled government was forced to make changes in Black education. In 1976 Black South African school children throughout the country demonstrated to the world their intolerance of the apartheid education system by rising up in protest. Continued school unrest into the 1980's not only revealed the need for an immediate and critical assessment of South African schooling, but also demanded an examination of the whole spectrum of education in South Africa. The immediate government response to these protests took the form of violent repression, student expulsions, school closures, teacher and student arrests, and the banning of 18 Black consciousness groups. Only in 1981 did the government react to the educational crisis in a more conciliatory manner with the establishment of the De Lange Commission of Inquiry. The proposals made by the Commission challenged the fundamental structures of apartheid society. The Commission recommended a single, unitary department of education for all South Africans and a changed school structure. After dragging its feet for two years, the government officially rejected the Commission's recommendation for a unitary education system for all South Africans.

The South Africa higher education environment has been regulated through the enactment of policies promulgated by the governments of the day since the establishment of South African higher education. Even in the early days, the higher education sector comprised both public and private higher education institutions. Since South Africa’s democratic election in 1994, the higher education environment has been altered by the current government by means of policy enactment. Limited research has been conducted on the impact of the current regulatory context on the management of a private higher education institution. Therefore, the focus of this study was to determine how a private higher education institution within the current higher regulatory context in South Africa is managed. A qualitative research methodology was used to study the phenomenon. For this purpose, a case study, an accredited and registered private higher education institution was identified and individual interviews conducted with its six managers. The study adhered to ethical principles and techniques to enhance the validity/trustworthiness of the findings. The study found that the current regulatory enactment that was initiated under the new democratic government elected in 1994 had far-reaching implications for the private higher education sector. As a consequence, management structures, policies and procedures, quality assurance processes and procedures and management functions were altered. However, some of the regulatory criteria still have an impact on the management functions as private providers still struggle for full recognition by the government. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Higher education has been challenged to respond to the inequalities of the past. This required an education system that is more responsive to the needs of underprepared students. The question that arises is whether Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) curricula create opportunities for students to adhere to the demands of the world of work and to assist students to take responsibility for their own learning. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of a responsive curriculum in optimising learning in higher education. An interpretative and descriptive qualitative approach was used in which semi-structured interviews and document analysis served as data collection techniques enabling the researcher to gain more depth in understanding the reality of the responsiveness of curricula used in the Department of Informatics at a Higher Education Institution in Gauteng. The study revealed that there is a dynamic but complex relationship between a responsive curriculum and optimisation of learning. Although the investigated curricula, responds to aspects of the knowledge domain, the findings seemed to indicate that there was not always a clear indication that the curricula fully respond to the needs of the students and industry. The findings further suggest that although content knowledge of the curricula plays a crucial role in the development of students, the needs of industry, society and students should also be met. Although the study’s results cannot be generalised due to the small sample, the researcher is of the opinion that more can be done to improve the state of the current curricula. Inclusive curriculum development training should be provided to all stakeholders (lecturers, students and industry). This descriptive study concludes with the suggestion of using a responsive curriculum model that would enable curriculum developers to design a responsive curriculum allowing students to experience optimal learning in higher education. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)