Page 78 - UniZulu Annual Report 2020

accredited by the CHE. The Department is currently
working on accreditation conditions
• Bachelor of Nursing. The programme received multiple
rounds of SANC endorsement conditions.The Department is currently working on the latest round of conditions in collaboration with several external stakeholders within the KwaZulu-Natal Province. The programme is pending CHE accreditation and SAQA registration due to outstanding professional body endorsement.
The following Bachelor of Education Honours programmes went through MRTEQ recognition and their DHET PQM approval was obtained. This paves the way for , programme development:
• Bachelor of Education Honours in Economic and Management Sciences
• Bachelor of Education Honours in Social Science Education
• Bachelor of Electrical Engineering in Computer Engineering
• Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics Engineering obtained DHET PQM approval as well as ECSA endorsement and have been submitted for CHE accreditation
The Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering received ECSA endorsement conditions. The proposal to address the conditions has been submitted. The Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering received ECSA endorsement. The PQM application is on hold to manage the timelines for DHET PQM approval, which make provision for only 18 months for finalisation of accreditation. The envisaged first year of implementation for the programme is 2026.
Both the Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting Science and Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Accounting received DHET PQM approval, thus paving the way for programme development. Both Master of Clinical Psychology and Master of Counselling Psychology received endorsement conditions from HPCSA. The proposals to address the endorsement conditions have been submitted. After the professional review, the Bachelor of Science Honours in Biokinetics was conditionally endorsed by HPCSA, and the Department has developed an improvement plan to address the conditions.
The application of programme name change from ‘Doctor of Agriculture in Animal Science’ to ‘Doctor of Philosophy in Agricultural Sciences’ received DHET PQM clearance and CHE approval. The name change application has been submitted to SAQA for qualification authentication.
The application for official recognition of the foundation
programmes of the University was made to DHET. UNIZULU received confirmation of official recognition of the foundation programmes of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture and Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law by DHET.
As the focus of Quality Assurance Office (QA) in 2020 was predominantly on PQM maintenance and programme accreditation, quality reviews were facilitated/supported mainly as part of CHE and professional body reviews. In this regard, QA supported the review of the Department of Biokinetics by HPCSA for programme endorsement purposes and the National Doctoral Degree Review by the CHE.
QA successfully facilitated the participation of the University of Zululand in the national quality review of the doctoral degree qualification conducted by CHE. Mechanisms that the QA used to prepare the Institution for the review include facilitation of the mock review, workshop presentations and discussions at dedicated institutional meetings. The Institution’s Doctoral Degree Self-evaluation Report was submitted on time and the online review site visit by CHE’s review panellists on 19-22 October 2020 went well. The Institution is awaiting the review report from CHE’s review panellists.
Several engagements with National Higher Education Quality Developments that were attended to during the year under review include the following:
• CHE’s Quality Assurance Guidelines for Emergency
Remote Teaching and Learning and Assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: These guidelines will be used by QA to facilitate quality assurance of online and other similar forms of teaching and learning across the institution
• CHE’s Draft Framework for Institutional Audits (May 2020):The framework will inform the review/development of the institutional review guidelines, which the QA will focus on in 2021
• Proposed new CHE’s Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) for Higher Education in South Africa (2020): The document will inform the development of the QAF of the University
• CHE’s Qualification Standard for Doctoral Degrees: The national review of the doctoral degree programmes was based on this qualification standard. QA will accordingly be facilitating the development of the quality improvement and maintenance and enhancement plans based on alignment to the qualification standard
UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND ANNUAL REPORT 2020
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