Here we are in the South African Higher Education landscape, experiencing Institutional Audits as reflexive praxis (IARP). All higher education institutions (HEIs) are participating in the IARP. Some have submitted their Self-evaluation Reports (SERs) and Portfolios of Evidence (POE).
Some of those have moved on to hosting visits from the CHE-appointed external review panel, had the benefits of the panel’s report, publication of the panel’s report on the CHE website and onward to development of improvement plans in preparation for the Quality Assurance Framework of 2024.
Our story here at UKZN is quickly unfolding. Come be a part of this national initiative designed to prepare us for the Quality Assurance Framework of 2024. Engage with us and reflect upon our quality management systems for learning and teaching, research and community engagement. Let’s explore how we assure quality of such quality management systems. Better yet, what is our higher education lifestyle when it comes to integrated quality management systems that facilitate student success in the core academic functions – learning and teaching, research and community engagement?
This website is our virtual home for matters pertaining to the IARP – where the stakes are high and our participation is vital.
Professor Nana Poku
As a public institution, UKZN is subject to periodic, searching reviews of its entire institutional, structural and operational facets. The exercise is externally-driven, but in its first phase it rests heavily on the information we provide through our own careful self-assessments.
We have a Steering Committee and three University-wide working groups. For the Steering Committee and each working group, here you will find information regarding their respective membership and mandates…
This section is thematically organised in accordance with the core academic functions of Learning and Teaching, Research and Community Engagement.
IARP is a national initiative in which all South African higher education institutions (HEIs) are participating. It is an opportunity for in-depth retrospection, deep introspection and mindful projection about the core functions of HEIs and the quality management and quality assurance systems that enable the core functions. The core functions are teaching and learning, research and community engagement. The IA Manual explains this in detail.
Reflexive praxis means let’s go inside ourselves, give our narratives regarding the 16 standards and provide evidence to support the narrative. It is about reflecting on our experience based upon our vision, mission, goals, pillars and enablers in our strategic plan. It means “applying one’s experience to oneself, while reflecting upon it, examining it critically, and exploring it analytically” (Zawada 2021). This is done through data gathering and report writing inclusive of your voice – students, academic staff, professional services staff, alumni, and external stakeholders who work with us.
The purpose of the audit report is to provide an overall evaluation of our quality management and quality assurance at UKZN in getting ready for the new Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) that will be rolled out in 2024. This is based on the four focus areas and the four standards assigned to each focus area. See the focus areas and standards here. See the guidelines here. We need narrative and evidence from you to conduct the evaluation.
There are a number of ways to identify quality management systems and determine the functionality, limited functionality or non-functionality of quality management systems. The IARP Framework defines the quality management systems as: “the institutional arrangements that assure the quality of learning and teaching, assessment, research, and community engagement. Such an integrated, internal system supports, develops, enhances and monitors the institution’s delivery of the core functions of higher education (IA Framework, 2021:9). Therefore, when collecting information and writing and compiling our SER and PoE, we want to know what quality management systems support our core functions of teaching and learning, research and community engagement and how this is being done. This is why we need your perspectives, once you reflect upon your position. If we need to change, help us create improvement plans.
Reflect on this as an evolving integrated quality management system at UKZN. An integrated quality management system means a specific focus on the management of the core academic functions of teaching and learning, research, and community engagement, as framed by our UKZN vision, mission and strategic goals (IA Framework, 2021:14). In other words, the extent to which we have an integrated institutional quality management system based on who we say we are and what we say we doing in view of our 2017-2021 Strategic Plan.
In addition, progress reports to the Steering Committee are available for your information. The report from the Institutional Profile Working Group – which sets the stage for our identity in the self-evaluation report (SER), is available for your comments. Likewise, the Focus Area 1 Working Group report, covering standards 1 to 4 are here for your review and comments. The report from the Professional Services Working Group regarding standards 5 to 12 is being incorporated into Focus Area 2 and Focus Area 3 reports. These will be available for your review in due course as part of the institutional self-evaluation report (SER) and portfolio of evidence (PoE).
The Focus Areas and standards are stated in brief, here.
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