· South African Qualifications Authority

· Statutory body of 29 members

· Minister of Education and Labour

· SAQA's mission is to ensure the development and implementation of a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) which contributes to the full development of each learner and to the social and economic development of the nation at large

OBJECTIVES OF THE NQF

· Create an integrated national framework for learning achievements

• Facilitate access to, and mobility and progression within education, training and career paths
• Enhance the quality of education and training

· Accelerate the redress of past unfair discrimination in education, training and employment opportunities

• SAQA successfully utilised Joint Implementations Plans (JIPS),

• SAQA and the IEC signed a JIP agreement to generate qualifications and unit standards for various aspects pertaining to elections

• The qualifications and unit standards were developed under the auspices of the SOB for Democracy, Human Rights, Peace and Elections

• The goal of quality education and training was supported through the auditing of 20 ETQAs and the findings of the audit reports point to substantial improvements nationally in quality management systems.

STANDARDS AND SETTINGS

• SAQA generates and registers unit standards and qualifications that are nationally recognized and internationally comparable

· A major achievement during been the registration of more qualifications and unit standards in 2004 than in other year combined.

• SAQA has registered standards and qualifications that are responsive to the needs of our economy

• Human resource Development Strategy

• National skills development strategy

• Growth and development summit targets

QUALIFICATIONS AND STANDARDS REGISTERED

in support of the Peoples Contract

• Road works
• Construction
• Carpentry
• Water service
• Health Education
• Transport
• Agriculture
• Crime Intelligence and Diplomacy

· Communication

· Education and Training

QUALITY ASSURANCE

• It is SAQA's responsibility to guarantee quality qualifications for a learning nation and SAQA therefore fosters a culture of quality qualifications in education and training by means of:

· Quality auditing of ETQAs to determine the extent to which they comply with their statutory obligations.

• Accreditation of Education and Training Quality Assurance bodies (ETQAs) to ensure the quality of delivery specific of qualifications and unit standards;

• Monitoring of the ETQAs to ensure continuous improvement of the processes that deliver quality qualifications; and

NATIONAL LEARNERS' RECORDS DATABASE

· National Learners' Records Database (NLRD) manages SAQA's comprehensive database of learner achievements

· At 31 March 2005, there were 507 new qualifications and 7 845 unit standards on the NLRD. The four databases track their status from public comment through to registration and show the 7 667 provider-based qualifications previously recorded.

Final Version 10/10/05

• Learners: 5 423 989

• Qualification achievements of these learners: 5 828 927

• Course achievements: 25 612 070

• Standards Generating Bodies (SGBs): 91

RESEARCH AND COMMUNICATION

· In 1999, SAQA first mooted the idea of reviewing progress in the development and implementation of the NQF.

· In March 2004, the first cycle of the Study was completed,

· the findings were published as Report 1: Establishing criteria against which to measure the progress of the NQF

· Qualification registration

- Design, Portability, Relevance, Uptake, Integration

- Equity, redress, Nature, Quality, Assessment, career path

- Assessors, Providers, QA practices

· Economic and social impact

- Organisation, society, national

• SAQA remains committed to the advocacy and communication of the NQF

• The establishment of the NQF regional forums is a big step in support of this commitment

• Internal and external communication plans have been revised

· SAQA is a recognised Investor In People (I/P) organization

· SAQA ensures that staff is given opportunities for growth and development through exposure to different learning opportunities both within the workplace and by attending courses and conferences.

REGIONAL NQF FORUMS

· Platform for stakeholders to discuss NQF issues such as :-

· Further education and training certificates

· The fundamentals of NQF qualifications

· Small medium and micro enterprises

· The 2004-2005 period included three important milestones for Information Technology (IT) at SAQA:

· servers' hardware and software were upgraded

· a new comprehensive security policy was implemented

· three project management learners were appointed to assist with technical support

· Skills development and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) are critical factors in the success of SMMEs in South Africa.

· SAQA supports and plays a role in the accreditation of SMMEs that either plan to offer, or are already offering NQF registered qualifications and/or unit standards. Furthermore, SAQA has published a Guideline for the Equitable Accreditation of SMME Providers of Education and Training

SAQA Financials

SA QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY

QUARTERLY SPENDING BY PROGRAMME FOR THE PERIOD I APRIL 2004 to 31 MARCH 2005 R '000

· SAQA has supported the harmonization of qualifications in SADC since 1999.

· SAQA is an active member of the SADC Technical committee on Certification and Accreditation (TCCA) tasked to develop a regional qualifications framework (RQF)

· SAQA hosted three conferences and seminars focusing on regional and international qualifications issues.

· SAQA helped develop the concept paper on the RQF which was approved by SADC

Integrated Council of Ministers (1CM) in June 2005 for the phased implementation of the

RQF from 2005 - 2010.

· SAQA supported, hosted and interacted with Angola, Seychelles, Lesotho, Botswana,

Mauritius, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Gabon, Ireland, Scotland, England,

Mexico and China.

· Forty countries already have or are developing NQFs.

· Three regional qualifications frameworks are being developed:

• SADC
• Europe
• Caribbean

· The European Union is following a similar route to SADC and is working on the implementation of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) by 2010.

· Moving from compliance performance

· Coherent policy development and implementation

· Finalization of NQF review

· Ensuring appropriate funding