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Directorates and DivisionsExecutive Office
SAQA is charged with the following responsibilities:
The Executive Office is therefore responsible to, through effective leadership and effective governance, ensure the aligned development of human, financial and infra-structural resources, to support the achievement of the organisational objectives. The Executive Office consists of the Executive Support section and the Secretariat. The Executive Support section ensures that major stakeholders are partnered to ensure systemic coordination, coherence and resource alignment to the benefit of learners in line with the national Human Resource Development Strategy The Secretariat facilitates informed decision-making and good governance through the organisation, management and dissemination of high quality information to the Authority and its committees.
There are ten directorates which are responsible to the Executive Officer:
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The Career Advice Services Helpline is working to provide affordable access to information, advice and guidance to help people, wherever they are. To navigate paths for a sustainable livelihood and meaningful future, is the driver of a helpline concept. When fully established, the multi-channel helpline with an integrated website/mobile website will be accessible through cell phone, toll-free telephone, email, sms, website, fax, or mail. Teachers and others will find resources to provide career development help to students and others. The project will strive to provide independent, comprehensive, quality information and resources on work and learning and links to a wide range of career, work and learning-related information, and how-to guides, such as how to read a payslip, write a resume, etc. The project will link individuals systemically, from wherever they are to information, guidance and resources across education, labour, work, and the informal sector.
The Directorate: Standards Setting and Development
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Standards Setting and Development works with other relevant SAQA directorates to carry out some of the functions SAQA is responsible for, such as:
- developing and implementing policy and criteria, after consultation with the QCs for the development, registration and publication of qualifications and part-qualifications;
- registering qualifications or part-qualifications recommended by QCs if theymeet the relevant criteria;
- develop policy and criteria, after consultation with the QCs, for assessment, recognition of prior learning and credit accumulation and transfer.
The Unit: Quality Assurance and Development
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Quality Assurance and Development is a unit within the Directorate: Standards Setting and Development. Currently this Unit is responsible for the development and management of policies relating to the accreditation of Education and Training Quality Assurance bodies (ETQAs), providers and assessors.
It accredits ETQAs to perform quality assurance functions and to accredit providers to offer and assess against the standards and qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework.
The Unit also processes the extension of accreditation of ETQAs to quality assure additional qualifications newly developed within their primary focus.
As soon as the Minister of Labour replaces the current regulations governing the ETQAs under the amended Skills Development Act, these responsibilities will become the responsibilities of the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO), and some of these responsibilities maybe delegated back to the ETQAs themselves.
Currently the Unit monitors and quality audits ETQAs on all the quality assurance functions they perform.This function will also move to the Quality Council for Trade and Occupations (QCTO). This body will decide on how the quality assurance process of SETAs and their providers will be dealt with. For details of accredited ETQAs, please click here.
Quality Assurance and Development has the following role with respect to professional bodies:
- must develop and implement policy and criteria for recognising a professional body and registering a professional designation for the purposes of this Act, after consultation with statutory and non-statutory bodies of expert practitioners in occupational fields and with the QCs;
- recognise a professional body and register its professional designation if the relevant criteria have been met.
The Directorate: Foreign Qualifications Evaluation and Advisory Services
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SAQA has the task of evaluating educational qualifications that have been obtained in education and training systems of countries other than South Africa. People with foreign qualifications who wish to attend South African education institutions or who wish to enter the South African labour market apply to SAQA to have their qualifications evaluated. The Directorate for Foreign Qualifications Evaluation and Advisory Services is responsible for this function. Click here (PDF) to view the application form.
The Directorate: National Learners' Records Database
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|  Project DirectorVerifications Sue Mcwatts |
The National Learners' Records Database (NLRD) is the management information system of the National Qualifications Framework. The NLRD holds records of SAQA and its sub-structures (e.g. SGBs); qualifications and unit standards registered on the NQF; accredited ETQAs and their accredited providers; registered assessors; moderating bodies; and individual learners and their achievements. The NLRD provides decision-makers with comprehensive information, especially in the fields of labour market trends and education and training, as well as verification of qualifications obtained by individuals in South Africa.
The Directorate: Strategic Support
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Strategic Support is a Directorate within SAQA that exists to establish a deep and critical understanding of the NQF so as to proactively inform and positively position SAQA and the NQF in minds of stakeholders and the community we serve. The Directorate has three main functions, i.e. units, Information Services, Communications and Client Services.
The Information Services provides information resources to SAQA staff and members of the SAQA Board and its sub-structures, to enable them to carry out their mandate to develop and implement the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The resources include books, journals, access to online databases as well as a substantial collection of important documents and text resources. It keeps copies of all SAQA publications and SAQA-related documents. SAQA stakeholders and members of the public, such as researchers, students and government departments, are encouraged to use it for reference purposes. The Centre is also responsible for the maintenance of the SAQA Website.
The Communications unit is responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of communications strategies to advance SAQA's aims and objectives. This includes the compilation of SAQA's annual reports to Parliament and the co-ordination of work on various SAQA publications. It is also responsible for the internal and external communications of SAQA including media, events, public and stakeholder relations.
The Customer Services unit's key function is to resolve complaints and facilitate the promotion of excellent customer services by ensuring an accessible entry point for clients from where action can be taken to ensure excellent services...more
The Directorate: International Liaison
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International Liaison has the broad vision of developing capacity within SAQA to increasingly collaborate with international partners on all matters of mutual interest concerning national and/or regional qualifications frameworks. The directorate has the following objectives: to actively contribute to the development of qualifications frameworks internationally; to identify and contribute to new and critical thinking related to qualifications frameworks; and to inform the development and implementation of the South African qualifications framework through involvement in international best practice. Click here for more information about the projects the International Liaison Directorate has been working on.
The Directorate: Research
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This Directorate is responsible for a research and development strategy, which produces and distributes up-to-date information and knowledge for the benefit of SAQA's strategic partners and the education and training sector at large. Over the past few years, the unit was responsible for a number of research projects including the development of the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policy.
The Directorate: Human Resources
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The Human Resources Directorate's main responsibility is attending to human resources related issues within the organisation. This includes managing the following f unctions:
- Recruitment, selection, and placement
- Training and development
- Policies and procedures governing all HR matters
- Labour relations
- Health and safety
- Career counselling
- Personnel administration
The Directorate also monitors SAQA's Employment Equity targets, reviews job descriptions and profiles, and Workplace Skills plans.
The Directorate: Information Technology
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This Directorate is responsible for the management, support and maintenance of all SAQA information technology resources. This includes the management of service level agreements that are concluded with external service providers.
The Directorate: Finance and Administration
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This Directorate manages the financial affairs of SAQA including the allocation of resources and the accounting, reporting, and control of income and expenditures. It also provides contract management advisory and consultation services and manages activities involving the delivery of administrative services to SAQA. The management of the SAQA premises also falls within the responsibility of this Directorate.
The Directorate: Career Advice Services | Standards Setting & Development | National Learners’ Records Database | Strategic Support | International Liaison | Research | Human Resources | Information Technology | Finance & Administration | Foreign Qualifications Evaluation and Advisory Services
