CPUT recently welcomed a delegation from the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) to the Bellville campus. This was the first HEQC visit to the institution.

The purpose of the HEQC’s visit was to discuss the nature of the upcoming quality audit, agree with the institution on the scope of the audit, explain the audit methodology, discuss the preparation of the self-evaluation review document, confirm the audit schedule and generate a common understanding on the audit.

The delegation was made up of Dr Lumkile Lalendle, Director: Institutional Audits; Luyanda Ndabankulu, Project Administrator and Belinda Wort, the Manager of Institutional Audits.

Representatives from the CPUT Quality Management Department, Senior Executives, the Deans of the six faculties and the Heads of Units attended the HEQC meeting held at the university’s Council Chambers.

Prior to meeting the senior management, Dr Lumkile Lalendle, and his colleagues briefly met Vice-Chancellor Prof Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga in her office.

CPUT Quality Management Director, Dr Dan Coetzee, said: “The HEQC’s advice on preparing for an audit was a helpful guide on undertaking our own self evaluation.”

Among other things, the meeting was intended to provide an opportunity to consider the connection between quality assurance, transformation and fitness of purpose and how these will be examined during the audit visit.

Dr Lalendle also highlighted the fact that while the audit is principally developmental, “accountability issues are not excluded”.

The institution was made aware of the preparation of an institutional profile which involves information from official sources both within and outside CPUT. The HEQC delegation also confirmed the audit schedule for CPUT, which would take place from 18 to 22 October 2010.

Luclaire Airey, the CPUT Quality Management Manager, said: “Over the past year, tremendous effort has gone into developing the quality management systems that support the quality activities needed for good academic practice. The audit has now been launched by the HEQC and it will be interesting to find out what benefit we give to the students and the CPUT community at large.”

According to Dr Lalendle, one of the things that the audit looks at is the issue of transformation.

“Transformation in this instance is not just about getting the numbers right, but also looking at how the institution contributes to the student and how it contributes in producing students that will go out there and be proud that they studied at CPUT,” said Dr Lalendle.

CPUT Quality Management Director, Dr Dan Coetzee, said: “The HEQC’s first visit has helped in setting boundaries for the audit and has given an overall introduction to what the audit will be about.”

By Andiswa Dantile

Photograph: CPUT Vice-Chancellor, Prof Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga welcomes the HEQC delegation Dr Lumkile Lalendle, Director: Institutional Audits; Belinda Wort, Manager and Luyanda Ndabankulu, Project Administrator.

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To address the critical shortage of qualified medical laboratory scientists in South Africa, CPUT's Biomedical Sciences Department has become the first in the country to offer a professional degree in Medical Laboratory Science.

The degree was approved by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET), the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC), the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) to be offered as from January 2011.

CPUT will replace its three-year National Diploma: Biomedical Technology with the professional degree. According to Prof Johan Esterhuyse, Head of Department Biomedical Sciences, the degree has been structured so that it contains elements of both the National Diploma as well as BTech: Biomedical Technology.   Esterhuyse, who is also the national coordinator of the re-curriculation process says, "Offering such a degree will create better recognition of the qualification and also give us an opportunity to train highly qualified scientists. This degree will also open doors for our students and create more job opportunities as the qualification will give them better access to a greater job market globally." The professional degree will lead to further advanced levels of study towards Master's and Doctoral degrees.The department has also completed a new curriculum which has been approved nationally.  According to Esterhuyse, the new curriculum includes more integrated Pathophysiology and Molecular Biology, which is currently the new way of thinking in Biomedical Science.To keep everyone in the loop, the department has organised workshops to ensure that staff members know what is expected of them. "We would not have done this without the support we got from management and many other role players", added Esterhuyse.By:  Andiswa Dantile

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In 2010, when the soccer player players of the world are aiming for the goalposts, CPUT will be hoping to achieve a few goals of its own during an Institutional Quality Audit site visit from the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC).

The HEQC is tasked with promoting quality assurance, auditing quality assurance mechanisims and accrediting programmes at institutions of higher education. All institutions are audited by the HEQC at least once within a six-year cycle. The auditing process relies heavily on a self-evaluation report submitted by the institution under review. A site visit by the HEQC confirms whether the results of the self-evaluation are accurate, so that the effectiveness of the institution's quality management can be assessed.

Gathering information for the self-evaluation report is a University-wide activity that will be part of campus life for the next two years. The Quality Management Directorate kicked off this process at a launch for the Institutional Audit on 17 June 2008 at the Bellville Campus.

CPUT Vice-Chancellor Prof Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga opened proceedings by discussing the purpose of the institutional mission, goals and objectives. She also spoke about the links between planning, resource allocation and quality management. “CPUT quality is about providing a footprint of excellence in higher education teaching and learning, research, technological insight and development and community engagement,” she said.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor; Academic Anthony Staak then discussed quality issues surrounding teaching and learning, research and community engagement. “While some of us may be rather anxious about what the next two years may have in store,” he said, “ I much prefer to view the Institutional Audit preparations as a wonderful opportunity to reflect on our own internal quality processes, to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses and to put in place plans to improve the way we do things.”

Finally, the Director of the Institutional Audit Dr Daniel Coetzee spoke about what the CPUT community can expect in the upcoming two years and the various drafts of the self-evaluation report that will need to be generated and circulated. “Every member of staff and every student is urged to participate in the audit,” Dr Coetzee said, “This is our chance to put in place a quality management system that meets with your requirements as well as those of external stakeholders.”

The Institutional Audit’s training program is already under way. The first training session, “Reflective practice – how to do a self-evaluation,” presented by Prof Jan Botha of the University of Stellenbosch, was held on 19 June 2008. The session was attended by working group convenors and members. Further training sessions are scheduled for the third term.

The Quality Management Directorate will also be distributing Qan (pronounced “can”), a regular newsletter that aims to keep the campus community up to date with the progress of the Institutional Audit. Qan will be available to CPUT staff as a printed publication and to the wider public in electronic format.

To learn more about the Institutional Audit, and the other activities of the Quality Management Directorate visit http://www.cput.ac.za/units/quality

By Ilana Abratt and Ruth Chisesa, Marketing and Communication Department

Photograph: CPUT community gets ready for 2010. Left to right: Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Prof Anthony Staak, Vice-Chancellor Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga, Dr Daniel Coetzee and Ms Luclaire Airey, both of the Quality Management Directorate, Mr Norman Jacobs of the Marketing and Communication Department.

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