Quality management of reaccreditation processes in private higher education institutions in South Africa

Abstract

Private higher education institutions (PHEIs) in South Africa have to apply to the Higher Education Quality Committee for the reaccreditation of existing programmes. If a programme is reaccredited, it indicates that there is continued compliance with the accreditation criteria of the Quality Council. If not reaccredited, accreditation can be withdrawn. If not reaccredited, or if reaccredited with conditions, it implies that students are at the receiving end of a poor-quality programme. The study aimed to investigate the reasons why programmes might not be reaccredited, the challenges that PHEIs possibly face, how they might navigate and address constraints to achieve compliance, and how their efforts are sustained to ensure continued compliance. The study also served to identify the internal quality management processes and determine which mechanisms could be established or fortified to enable programme sustainability and quality enhancement. The conceptual framework for this study is the PHEI Open System Model which presumes the PHEI to be an open system. The study found that the PHEIs display as open systems whereby “input” is filtered from the external to the internal environment and catalyses the conversion of resources (“throughput”) into “output”, i.e. a reaccredited programme. A purposive sample of PHEI staff at institutions located in the Gauteng province, members of an association of private higher education providers, and members of the regulatory bodies were invited to participate. This is a qualitative study whereby data was collected through semi-structured interviews which served to investigate how PHEIs manage and experience the programme reaccreditation process.