Higher education state governance fulfils an important function in providing policies and procedures, which in turn provides guidance and strategic vision to higher education in South Africa. The reformed South African higher education policies have to guide, rebuild the nation and drive transformation that is necessary in post-apartheid society. However reformation and transformation of regulations require change and restructuring in order to ensure alignment within the entire system. The Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA) is positioned in a newly restructured and merged educational landscape within a comprehensive university, in which new strategic goals and objectives have been formulated. The faculty is also in the midst of a programme offering debate due to the circulation of the draft Higher Education Qualification Framework (HEQF), which revealed the lack of inclusion of previous technikon type qualifications in this framework. FADA is considering recurriculation and conversion from diploma to degree programmes in order to create a competitive advantage, and ensure a postgraduate future for the faculty. However the majority of the FADA academic staff are specifically qualified and experienced in technikon type programme offerings. The aim of this study is therefore; to determine the challenges and expectations presented in reformed state regulation that should be considered in the strategic management of faculty programme offering in order to ensure strategic alignment to state regulation. The primary research objectives of this study are: • To determine the role and impact of reformed state regulation and state policies on the strategic management of the programme offering in FADA. • To establish the challenges and expectations that the faculty face, in order to strategically manage programme offering that is in line with relevant state policy expectations. • To identify and assess the concerns and expectations expressed by FADA academic staff, that will impact on the strategic management and strategic alignment of faculty programme offering. The research design follows a qualitative research approach in order to observe and document the perspective of the academic within higher education. A case study approach is adopted in examining FADA which is a single higher education faculty. Using literature survey, documentary and policy analysis and interviews with academics within the faculty, the study has provided a comprehensive review of higher education state policies. This review also presents the challenges and expectations that will be required within strategic management, of faculty programme offering to ensure strategic alignment to state regulation. The most important findings revealed that greater focus is placed on management in higher education. An increasing move towards a management paradigm is evident in the restructured higher education environment. Furthermore, the reformed higher education system is described as being extremely rigid with an increase in bureaucracy, which relates to the increase in the number of reformed higher education policies and procedures. The increase in policy requirements resulted in a greater administrative workload which impacts on teaching contact time and interaction with students. The research recommendations have identified that FADA should ensure that the faculty management team is experienced and skilled in strategic management and that they include a market orientated approach in strategic planning. FADA should also aim at reducing the negative impact of state regulation on lecturers and ensure that continuous growth and development takes place in the faculty. / Ms. M. Clark