Quality Assurance

The Faculty of Education supports the University’s vision, namely to be a leading university in Africa driven by the pursuit of knowledge and innovation, and thus adheres to the quality policy of the NWU. This policy was formulated to guide the development and implementation of an institutional quality management system in pursuit of further quality improvement and the promotion of a culture of continuous improvement.

The Faculty strives to promote a quality focus vital to the realisation of the vision and mission of the NWU. Therefore, the establishment of a quality management system in the Faculty that aligns with the objective of the Institutional Quality Office is not regarded as a once-off task, but as an ongoing process.

Quality is assured through self-driven internal and external evaluation processes. Quality assurance at faculty level is the responsibility of the dean, school directors, lecturers and support staff members. Moreover, the Faculty Board and Faculty committees, namely the Teaching Quality, Research, Examination, Service Learning and Work-integrated Learning committees, strive to improve existing quality processes and establish new processes. Consequently, there is a continual improvement in teaching-learning, research, the application of expertise and community involvement.

The Teaching Quality Committee supports the dean in his responsibility to ensure that relevant teaching programmes of high quality that meet internal and external quality assurance requirements are offered and managed. This committee also endeavours to promote innovative teaching-learning in the Faculty in order to produce well-rounded graduates able to make a contribution in diverse communities.

The internal evaluation process is validated via external evaluations by experts outside the NWU. The Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the Council on Higher Education also evaluates the quality of academic programmes. All teaching qualifications are accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority, Department of Higher Education and Training, and the HEQC.

The Quality Manual sets forth (a) the quality assurance, which includes the rules stipulated by the Faculty to ensure that students meet the Faculty’s standards, and (b) the quality controls, which incorporate the detailed processes that ensure the effectiveness of these rules.