Walter Sisulu University is set to undergo an institutional audit by the council on higher education (CHE).
A CHE representative visited the university last week to capacitate staff on accreditation issues.
Some of the university’s programmes were flagged earlier this year after it emerged they were being offered without proper accreditation.
The programmes in question were the advanced diploma in internal auditing, advanced diploma in journalism, BSc honours in zoology and master of medicine in obstetrics and gynaecology. They fall under the so-called “legacy qualifications” and were supposed to be in teach-out phase until December 2019.
The institution was cleared to continue offering the qualifications by CHE, albeit with some conditions, after a thorough review process that led to the delay of the university’s May graduation ceremony, which was subsequently hosted several weeks later.
For the advanced diploma in internal auditing and master of medicine in obstetrics and gynaecology, CHE wrote in May that WSU needed to “attend to the issues identified for each and show evidence that they have been addressed before the end of 2022, failing which no new students can be enrolled in the programmes”.
“Nothing in the module content or outcomes mentions their expectations of an internal auditor, such as evaluating, risks, ethical procedures for auditors or detecting fraud,” said CHE, regarding the advanced diploma in internal auditing.
For the BSc honours in zoology, CHE wrote that the module outcomes of the programme were “too generic”, while the advanced diploma in journalism was reclassified with no conditions.
In May, higher education minister Dr Blade Nzimande, in response to parliamentary questions, said the university continued to accept students into the programmes in question even after the cut-off date.
According to a notice by the university, the CHE will undertake a site visit to WSU from August 7 to 11.
The regulatory body said the audit of the qualifications and programmes offered by the university was being undertaken “to ensure full compliance with regulatory requirements”.
Last week, WSU’s acting deputy vice-chancellor for academic affairs and research, Prof Mashudu Davhana-Maselesele, led workshops in WSU facilitated by a representative from the CHE, where staff were trained on the “regulatory processes pertaining to the accreditation, registration, re-registration and funding of programmes and qualifications”.
Davhana-Maselesele said: “As we know, our academics are specialists in their fields, but they are not trained in the area of teaching and learning curriculum development and design.
“So, we want to develop that capacity and ensure that going further they will be able to review their programmes and also ensure that they update what they are doing and keep records of what they do.”
She said the workshops came at the “right time” because the institution was aligning everything to its new vision and mission.
“We also need to look at the issue of decolonising our education so that we also bring in the African perspective into our own context,” she said.
The deputy vice-chancellor said the staff were empowered to play an active role in accreditation.
The CHE said the full institutional audit of programmes offered by WSU was part of a national round of institutional audits.
The newly elected WSU convocation, led by its president Dr Lunga Mantashe, resolved that the “accreditation of WSU programmes must be taken as a top priority”.
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