Background
The Higher Education Reform Experts South Africa (HERESA) is a collaborative multi-country initiative overseen by the Technology Higher Education Network South Africa (THENSA). HERE-SA supports technological advancements in learning, focussing specifically on:
(1) entrepreneurship education,
(2) work-integrated learning (WIL),
(3) competency-based learning and teaching (CBLT),
(4) competences for the 4IR, and
(5) the leadership needed for this work.
Key objectives of HERESA
The HERESA initiative seeks to:
- empower South African technology-oriented higher education institutions to develop strategic plans for innovations in the focus areas, and
- consolidate a sustainable network of HEREs in South Africa, and in the future, Southern Africa – through mutual practice-sharing activities.
Role of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)
SAQA’s role in the HERE-SA initiative includes leading and participating in the projects’ collaborative networks, information-sharing, and integrating key knowledge gained, into National Qualifications Framework (NQF) policy, and vice versa.
Linking research, good practice, policy development
There are different approaches to national policy development and processes in which groups outside the responsible state entity, can contribute.
Firstly, entities or individuals can submit policy briefs to policy developers, based on research and good practice. An advantage is the rich and relevant information obtained. A disadvantage is that the brief may be too early, or too late, to feed into policy development or review cycles.
Secondly, policy developers can call for stakeholder inputs via consultations or Government Gazette. While inputs are recorded, and considered, there is a lot of information, and some may be ‘lost’ or ‘translated’ in the process. In this approach, stakeholders need to provide submissions that are as close as possible to the text needed in the policy. While this policy approach is consultative, a disadvantage is that the end-product may not be equally acceptable to all implementers.
SAQA follows a third approach, in which the relevant stakeholders participate in actual policy development through a democratically elected task team of representatives from the groups involved. The process involves at least three engagements: (1) to build common understandings around, and a frame of reference for, the policy development, (2) for deep engagement with a first draft of the new or revised policy, and (3) for fine-tuning. In between the meetings, a writing sub-group of the task team crafts and fine-tunes versions of the policy, there may be public consultations and inputs via gazette, and the task team meets again if there are aspects to address.
HERESA in national policy revision and development
SAQA has invited the HEREs to be part of its National Task Team for the Revision of the NQF Level Descriptors. A HERESA Level Descriptor Task Team works parallel to the National Task Team, and a HERE is present in the national meetings and work. The Level Descriptors are central in the NQF policy suite in South Africa. They are used in the development of qualifications and curricula; the positioning of professional designations; in Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), Credit Accumulation and Transfer (CAT), and learning pathway development, and for the national and international comparability of qualifications, and the mobility of learners and workers, amongst others. SAQA published the current NQF Level Descriptors in 2012 and is updating them to ensure their currency and relevance.
SAQA is also working with HEREs in the development of a comprehensive policy brief for WIL, a need for which was identified in the March 2022 HERE-SA training workshop. All the HERE-SA policy work commenced in June 2022; it ensures that the rich learning from the project benefits people across the country.
Dr Heidi Bolton, Senior Manager: Research, SAQA