SAQA CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF EXISTENCE
August marks the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) 25th year of existence. Since its inception in 1996, SAQA has committed its resources to ensure that South African qualifications are of high quality, are internationally comparable and are registered on a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) that is transparent and accessible to all stakeholders.
In celebrating 25 years of existence, SAQA shines a spotlight on some of the milestones achieved over this period. Please refer to the SAQA milestones document, at the bottom of this article.
August is also Womenâs Month, which creates the perfect opportunity for SAQA to celebrate the women in leadership roles. We are proud to be led by Professor Peliwe Lolwana, SAQAâs 7th Board Chairperson, and Dr Julie Reddy, SAQAâs first female CEO. We are also proud that 63% of executives and senior managers are women who are playing an integral role in advancing SAQA to deliver on its mandate.
âSAQA is proud of its track record of promoting women into leadership positions. The fact that we have achieved three consecutive clean audit opinions proves that women leaders are capable of great achievements if given opportunitiesâ, says Dr Reddy.
SAQA is mandated to oversee the further development and implementation of the NQF, a key national policy tool that is instrumental in the transformation and integration of South Africaâs education and training system. The NQF is a comprehensive system for the classification, coordination, registration and publication of articulated quality-assured national qualifications and part-qualifications. All registered qualifications across its three Sub-Frameworks are located in the ten-level NQF.
SAQA continues to grow its footprint regionally, on the African continent and across global structures by strengthening relationships and collaborating with NQF partners to promote the South African NQF and share good practices and lessons learned. SAQAâs efforts to encourage institutions to implement Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) as a pathway to access, progression and credit and to introduce a framework for recognising the qualification achievements of refugees and asylum seekers, are just two initiatives that have captured the attention of our international counterparts.
Issued by: SAQA
Enquiries: Nosipho Damane: Communications Manager
E-mail address:Â ndamane@saqa.co.za
