Learning for Life, Work and the Future Initial ... - Unesco-Unevoc

Page 36 Participants’ Papers Learning for Life, Work and the Future
2. Curriculum Development
Two major changes have impacted on curriculum
development at the technikons. The shift in emphasis
to outcomes-based education has had a large impact on
curriculum development, resulting in technikons
nationally co-ordinating programme outcomes rather
than programme content. This implies that individual
technikons must have the capacity to develop curriculum
content internally to allow students the opportunity
to attain the expected outcomes. There are reasons to
believe that all technikons do not necessarily have that
capacity.
The SERTEC requirement that internal quality assurance
must be externally evaluated has prompted the
development of such internal quality assurance at most
technikons. External monitoring would be a comparable
trigger for the development of internal curriculum
development capacity that has now become necessary,
and questionnaires and processes must be developed
for such monitoring. Initiatives by some technikons
in this regard could be encouraged in order to
speed up the process of developing such external
evaluation.
In some technikons, curriculum development units
have been established. The intention is to externally
monitor the efficient functioning of such units, including
the role of advisory committees and other
stakeholders across the spectrum. Curriculum development
units can at best co-ordinate and facilitate
subject-specific curriculum development. The cooperation
between such units and academic departments
must be promoted.
3. Staff Development
Internal staff development cannot rely wholly on staff
studying towards higher qualifications at the same or a
different institution. It must also take place through
internal short courses, the attendance of conferences
and seminars, and advancement in educational theory
and methodology. Many academic departments take
the initiative of promoting staff development within
their departments, and staff development units have
been established in some technikons, generally making
a major contribution. Good co-ordination between
such staff development units and academic departments
must be established where it does not already
exist.
4. Institutional Management and Administration
Some technikons have expressed the wish that institutional
administration be subjected to external quality
monitoring. This could include the monitoring of
management and financial functions. The intention
would not be to play the role of external watchdog, but
rather to promote internal quality assurance processes
with regard to management and administration.
Financial audits are often regarded as the only necessary
external activity in financial administration.
However, although these attend to the correctness of
accounting procedures they do not necessarily ensure
financial effectiveness and efficiency in administration.
Institutional management and administration should
therefore include all three aspects of financial conduct.
These functions fall mostly under the remit of the
Rector and the Registrar, and would clearly be a
sensitive area for external quality monitoring.
5. Student Career Guidance and Psychological
Support Services
With the changes in student demography, the support
students receive from the technikons in career guidance
and psychological support is becoming increasingly
important. Such services need to be professionally
conducted, and some technikons have established units
for this purpose. External quality monitoring of those
services would complete the full cycle of quality
assurance at the technikons.
6. Generic Process and Questionnaires
As is the case with most other SERTEC processes and
questionnaires, an attempt should be made to develop,
with the co-operation of the CTP, the necessary generic
processes and questionnaires for the conduct of external
quality monitoring of the above academic and
administrative support services. Other similar services
not mentioned above must be included, and the
Council of SERTEC might consider co-operating with
the CTP in the development of these processes.
7. Recommendations
It is recommended that:
• Academic support services and administration be
included in the external quality monitoring by
SERTEC;
• The initiatives taken by some technikons be coordinated
for the development of the necessary
processes to avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’;
• The design of the above processes be referred to the
CTP to develop in co-operation with SERTEC;
• The matter be finalized expediently to ensure the
conduct of such external evaluations before the end
of 2002. In this way, a complete package of quality
assurance could be handed over to the HEQC in
2003. Such a package would satisfy the requirements
of the Higher Education Act, i.e. quality
promotion, institutional audit, and programme
assessment and accreditation.