The Council on Higher Education (CHE) is mandated to advise the Minister of Education on all higher education policy issues.

The CHE responds to requests for advice from the Minister of Education. Issues on which advice has been requested include:

• the National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development
• the Higher Education Qualifications Framework
• the policy on distance education

The CHE also proactively offers advice to the Minister. Recent issues on which advice has been offered include:

• the barriers to equity of student access, opportunity and outcomes in higher education
• the funding and financing of higher education
• the macro implementation of institutional restructuring and its impact, outcomes and consequences

The research which informs this advice is carried out by the Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate.