DIRECTORATE: STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT

A FRAMEWORK FOR QUALIFICATION STANDARDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Quality Assurance ForumAugust-September 2011

“The very concept of standards is riddled with ambiguity” (Becher, 1997)

The current situation

Conceptualization• Analysis and evaluation of previous CHE research

(2006-2009)• Analysis and evaluation of international trends• Draft ‘Framework for Qualification Standards in

Higher Education’• Discussion and review

– CHE Senior Management, April 2011– HEQC Board Workshop, July 2011– Ad hoc Standards Reference Group, August 2011

Critical questions

What do qualification standards wish to achieve, and for whose benefit?

Will the development of standards justify the costs, in terms of human and financial investment?

Will the exercise have long-term sustainability?How will the benefits be assessed (by the state, the

HEI sector, institutions, academics, students, society at large)?

Can standards generation serve as an academic stimulus for institutions, rather than an exercise in compliance?

More questionsHow will national standards recognize and

accommodate institutional autonomy, and accountability?

Can qualification standards accommodate institutional and contextual diversity?

And accommodate field/disciplinary identity, authority and expertise (institutional systems of QA, e.g., external examination)?

And allow for innovation, and inter-disciplinary initiatives?

And find a balance between durability (for long-term planning) and flexibility (to accommodate new academic developments)?

And a further questionHow should qualification standards be

distinguished from:Institutional standards (capacity to offer

qualifications)Content (curriculum) standardsPerformance (achievement) standards, e.g.,

individual student achievement (grading)student cohort achievement (throughput rates)market-place achievement (employment rates)teaching and learning standardsresearch and publication standards

Professional body requirements for designation?

What standards might do(in vacuo)

Potential Already in placeEstablish NQF-related descriptors SAQA: NQF level descriptors

Purpose and characteristics of qualifications

HEQF: purpose and characteristics

Benchmarks for programme approval (leading to qualifications)

HEQC Accreditation and Re-Accreditation: minimum standards

Minimum requirements for offering qualifications

(Public HEIs): DHET PQM approval(Private HEIs): DHET registration

Criteria for institutional capacity to offer qualifications

HEQC: Institutional reviews HEQC: Self-accreditation (forthcoming)

Comparability of programmes leading to qualifications

HEQC: National reviews

Trade, occupational, vocational, professional designations

Professional bodies

What should standards AIM to do?

• Provide a framework for consistent, coherent development of qualifications

• Clarify the meaning, purpose and distinctiveness of qualification types

• Guide accreditation and recognition of programmes within the context of qualification types (what a degree is; what it is not)

• Provide broad guidelines for graduate/diplomate attributes

What should standards AIM to do?

• Contribute to quality assurance of programmes, within and between institutions

• (Global context): establish benchmarks for international comparability

• Strengthen public confidence in the value and credibility of qualifications

• Establish qualification benchmarks for institutional self-accreditation .

What standards CANNOT do

• Form the basis for external rankings of institutions or their programmes

• Enforce any particular educational philosophy, pedagogical model or assessment regime

• Resolve all issues surrounding the academic quality of programmes

• Dictate the design of programmes (other than relations between purpose, characteristics and outcomes)

• Provide a template for programme design• Guarantee the transferability of credits from one

qualification (or institution) to another• Establish a platform for addressing extraneous

institutional issues.

The concept of qualification ‘pathways’

International trends:• Different approaches to the trade/

occupational/ vocational/ professional/ general qualification spectrum.

Recommended: three ‘pathways’:• trade/occupational/vocational qualifications;• professional qualifications;• general (formative) qualifications.

(Alternative terms: ‘streams’, ‘routes’, ‘tracks’, ‘orientation’).

Qualification ‘pathways’

Organizing basisContextual emphasis Conceptual

emphasis

Proposed ‘pathways’Vocational Professional

General/Formative

Learning outcome domainsApplied competence

Skill

Knowledge

Proposed ‘pathways’Pathway Criteria Characteristics

TradeOccupational

Vocational

ApprenticeshipArtisan practitionerLicence/certificationIndustry-controlled trainingEmphasis on context (skill, applied competence)Orientation to industry-employed diplomates

Responsive to workplace demandsProcedural knowledgeSpecific skillsConceptual knowledge to allow for continued learningStrong links with industry

Professional Induction (eg, articles, housemanship)Professional body influences registrationEmphasis on contextual/ conceptual blendProvision for continuing professional developmentOrientation to professionally-active graduates

Demands of professional practiceSkills adaptable to professional environment and ethicsWorkplace experience embedded in conceptual knowledgeTeaching linked with research, legislation, prof regulations

GeneralAcademicFormative

No formal apprenticeship/ induction (limited/no WIL)No licensing/ certification/ registrationEmphasis on conceptual learningOrientation to research-active graduates

Emphasis on conceptual foundations of the knowledge fieldStrong links to knowledge advancement (research, disciplinary innovation)Introduction to research methodology

Qualifications and ‘pathways’

Qualifications by level and orientation

Contextual emphasis Conceptual emphasis NQF level

Qualification type

Vocational Professional General/ Formative

10 Doctoral

9 Master

8 Honours

8 PG Diploma

7 Bachelor (480 credits)

7 Bachelor (360 credits)

7 Advanced Diploma

6 Diploma

6 Advanced Certificate

5 Higher Certificate

What ‘standard’ of standards?

• A ‘threshold’ standards modelQualification A (best practice: unacknowledged)

Qualification B (typical: unacknowledged)

Qualification B (threshold) NQF level n

Qualification C (below standard)

A ‘typical’ standards modelQualification A (best practice: unacknowledged)

Qualification B (typical)

Qualification C (threshold) NQF level n

Qualification D (below standard)

What ‘standard’ of standards?

A ‘range of standards’ model

Qualification A (best practice) (Guidance)

Qualification B (typical) NQF level n

Qualification C (threshold)

How will standards link with other CHE activities?

National reviews• Standards serve as guide to programme

criteriaInstitutional reviews• Standards are the benchmark for institutional

quality assurance, programme design, student achievement, etc.

Accreditation• Standards guide accreditation minimum

standards as they are applied to specific qualification types

Proposed approach to standards

• Function is distinct from NQF level descriptors, HEQF specification, accreditation minimum criteria, etc.

• Optimal institutional autonomy (programme design, delivery, assessment)

• Strong influence of field/disciplinary expertise: must be accompanied by strong systems for external examination

• ‘Development’ emphasized over ‘generation’ and ‘setting’

• Approach that is transparent, legitimate, applicable to the nature and purpose of HE, adaptable to academic innovation

A model for qualification standards Aspect of the qualification Control / responsibility

Admission requirements HEQF / other legislation (admission requirements to certificates, diplomas, degrees)

Purpose of the qualification (HEQF) STANDARDS

Descriptors and qualifiers Accreditation STANDARDS

Assumed entrance-level learning(Knowledge, skills, applied competence)

Exit-level of lower qualification(Standards developed for entry-level qualification)

Programme design, content, sequence, internal progression, pacing, pedagogy, assessment, student achievement

Field/discipline expertise;HEI quality assurance and approval processes

Exit-level outcomes NQF level descriptors (?)

Graduate/recipient attributes:Exit-level knowledge/skill/applied competence blend (and how they achieve the purpose and intended outcomes of the qualification)

STANDARDS

How will this affect HEIs?

• A programme is linked to a qualification and its standards.• A qualification is linked to a pathway.• The mission and goals of a HEI are linked to one or more

pathways, and to all or some qualification levels and types.• Each qualification must, minimally, achieve threshold

standards.• The HEI assesses its capacity to enhance threshold

standards to “typical” or to “aspirational (best practice)” levels.

• Institutional and national programme reviews assess HEI capacity to enhance standards, and progress in doing so.

• A “hierarchy” of practice becomes intra-institutional rather than inter-institutional.

How many layers in the ‘nested approach’ should CHE standards

address?• Qualification types• Qualification types and ‘pathways’Initial phase• Generic standards: qualification types and variantssimultaneous with• Specific standards: selected fields (designator – or/and,

where appropriate, qualifier)• All qualification types, descriptors, ‘pathways’ and

designators• All qualification types, descriptors, ‘pathways’, designators

and first and second qualifiers

Qualification types and variants

NQF level

Vocational Professional General

10 Doctoral degree Doctoral degree

9 Master’s degree Master’s degree

8 Postgraduate Diploma Postgraduate DiplomaBachelor’s degree

Honours degreeBachelor’s degree

7Advanced Diploma

Bachelor’s degreeAdvanced Diploma

Bachelor’s degree

6 Diploma (360 cr) Diploma (360 cr)Diploma (240 cr)

Selected fields: sources

• Request from the Minister• Field selected for HEQF National Review• Recently modified, or currently modifying,

field• Request from a representative party in higher

education (e.g., forum of VCs/DVCs; Deans)• Request from an authorized professional

body• Selection by CHE (e.g., arising from other

HEQC QA activities)

Outstanding issues

• Relations with QCTO; effect on NQF 5-6 standards

• Reconciling the pace of standards development with expectations of the HE sector

• Aligning standards development with existing field/disciplinary peer review procedures

• Developing a ‘range of standards’ model (benchmark, typical, enhanced standard-levels) while avoiding a real or implied (external) institutional ranking system

• Aligning standards development with both CHE and field/disciplinary peer capacity

Proposed stages (1)

• Draft Framework to HEQC Board for comment

• Draft Framework to CHE for approval • Approved Framework to HE sector for

comment• Review of Framework by CHE (in the light of

HE sector comments), and formal publication• Formation of representative Standards

Reference Group

Proposed stages (2)

• A model for generic qualification type and variant standards development

• A model for specific field/discipline standards development

• Selection of pilot-phase fields/disciplines for standards development

• Communiqué to HE sector: pilot-phase fields/disciplines, methods and procedures

• Promoting the cause: workshops/conference on qualification standards

Proposed stages (3)

• Establishment of select expert peer groups, for a) generic and b) specific standards development

• Selected draft qualification standards for public comment

• Standards Reference Group evaluates public comments, and advises CHE

• CHE determines roll-out: methods, scale and timelines.