Dean and Head of the School of Applied Human Sciences Professor Matshepo Matoane has been appointed as a member of the Working Group: Higher Education Practices Standards and Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) Capacity Development.
The Working Group is part of the QAF Implementation Preparation Project (QAF IPP).
The QAF, approved by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) on 16 September, 2020, aims to enable the Council and the higher education sector generally, to execute their quality assurance responsibilities in a manner that is responsive to a rapidly evolving education and training context.
Expertise and experience considered when the Working Group was formed included fields such as research into learning and teaching; academic development in its broadest sense; quality assurance procedures and management; institutional/faculty leadership and management, and student support.
‘I feel greatly honoured to have been appointed as a member of the Working Group,’ said Matoane. ‘At an individual level, I hope to share my experience of overseeing the coordination of quality assurance initiatives aimed specifically at the provision of distance learning and student support services at one of our country’s open distance learning institutions. My participation in this Working Group will place UKZN at an added advantage with respect to quality assurance capacity development interventions and quality practice standards.’
The broad task of QAF IPP Capacity Development is to undertake the necessary research and consultation to inform the development of capacity development initiatives in key areas which will underpin the implementation of the integrated QA functions in the context of the QAF. Matoane hopes to tap into the expertise of colleagues from UKZN in the establishment of communities of practice as part of the responsibilities of the Working Group.
These areas of expertise include learning; teaching and assessment; curriculum reform and programme development; online and blended learning; access; admissions; student support and success; institutional governance; leadership and management; work-integrated learning; internships and entrepreneurship; recognition of prior learning; credit accumulation and transfer; articulation community engagement and its interaction with learning and teaching, and research and innovation and its interaction with learning and teaching.
