By Nontobeko Moimane 03 June 2022

Facilitator: Dr Britta Zawada from CHE

On Tuesday, 24 May 2022, the Vaal University of Technology’s (VUT) Quality Promotions Unit (QPU) hosted an institutional capacity development workshop which was facilitated by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) at the Vanderbijlpark campus.

Dr Britta Zawada facilitated the workshop on behalf of the CHE.

The purpose of the workshop was to provide guidance on what is expected from the audit.

Professor Maggie Linington, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Teaching, Learning and Student Support Services, delivered the opening address and explained that the workshop would help VUT staff to understand what needs to be done during the audit. She further mentioned that the audit is a self-improvement process that will help VUT learn more about itself.

Dr Zawada gave presentations on the following topics:

• Overview of the Institutional Audits Process
• Institutional Audits as Reflexive Praxis
• Focus Areas, Standards and Guidelines

According to Dr Zawada, quality and transformation must be interlinked. She stated that the audit is not about rankings and comparisons between Higher Education Institutions. Still, it is about meeting VUT, knowing where VUT is, and learning about the institution.

She further stated that the audit is peer-driven and evidence-based. “The audits are meant to support institutions with continuous quality improvement and enhancement”.

The audit is based on improving the Institutional Quality Management System (IQMS).

The audit is based on four focus areas namely:

• Focus Area 1: Strategic, planning, management, and leadership
• Focus Area 2: Design and implementation of the IQMS
• Focus Area 3: Coherence and Integration of the IQMS
• Focus Area 4: Teaching and Learning

During the question-and-answer session, participants were given an opportunity to ask clarity seeking questions to assist them to prepare and participate fully during the audit.

Ms Thiruvani Naidoo, Quality Project Manager, gave a vote of thanks and urged the VUT community to participate meaningfully during the audit period.

The audit is about accountability. Therefore, the executive summary of the final external report will be in the public domain.