Welcome to the Standards Development Directorate

The Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF) assigns to the CHE the responsibility for developing standards for all higher education qualifications. The CHE must also ensure that such qualifications meet the criteria of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) for registration on the NQF in terms of section 1(f)(ii) of the Higher Education Act as amended. The HEQF requires that standards

• must have legitimacy, credibility and a common, well-understood meaning, and they must provide benchmarks to guide the development, implementation and quality assurance of programmes leading to qualifications.

The role of the CHE as the Quality Council for Higher Education means that its responsibility for standards should proceed alongside its other statutory responsibilities in the areas of quality assurance, including the accreditation and re-accreditation of programmes, institutional reviews, and national reviews. The coexistence of all these responsibilities in the same body puts the CHE in a privileged position to advance the objectives of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) within the higher education system.

Enquiries relating to standards development may be emailed to the Senior Manager, Ms Olivia Mokgatle, at .