Page 79 - UniZulu Annual Report 2020

ACADEMIC STRUCTURE 2020
HEQSF Alignment
In preparation for the phasing out of all Ministerial programmes and the introduction of the Higher Education Qualification Sub-Framework (HEQSF) aligned academic programmes as recorded in the DHET PQM (June 2018), the Registrar’s division undertook to interact with all internal statutory bodies and faculties to address the task at hand. Given the gazetted Notice 40123 of July 2016, that the last date for all FTEN students entering into a Non- HEQSF-aligned programme would be 31 December 2019, this project needed to be expedited for the Institution to meet the specified timeframe. In terms of the transitional arrangements, it was important to emphasise that existing qualifications registered on the NQF remain in place until they expire or are replaced by other qualifications developed specifically for one of the sub-frameworks. The HEQSF Alignment Project objectives were to address the complex task of recoding all aligned qualifications and
modules. It was also imperative to grasp the complexity of the phasing out of all non-HEQSF-aligned programmes and the impact on all pipeline students during this transitional phase. The envisioned technological and coding changes were also interrogated internally, as well as the timeframes necessitating the transitional and implementation phases of DHET’s single integrated system. The effective integration of the recoding activity also required continuous engagements with the Finance Department, primarily the Fees Section, to ensure the appropriate allocation of fees to the new coding framework.
The Institution entered Phase 2 of the HEQSF alignment process of all qualifications, as recorded in the latest Programme Qualification Mix Report (2018). The implementation of the HEQSF-aligned programmes was concluded during the January 2019 registration period and all FTEN students who registered in 2019, would be registering as second-year students under the new dispensation. Correspondence was received from CHE and SAQA acknowledging the approval of qualifications that
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UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND ANNUAL REPORT 2020