CHE HARMONISES QUALITY ASSURANCE AND INSTITUTIONAL AUDIT STANDARDS

CHE Harmonises Quality Assurance and Institutional Audit Standards

The two key pillars of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) mandate are accreditation and institutional audits. Thus, CHE accredits programmes offered by Higher Education Institutions, and undertakes institutional audits of quality assurance mechanisms of the same institutions. There are two sets of standards for these two processes, namely Minimum Quality Assurance Standards for accreditation, and Institutional Audit Framework. CHE is working towards harmonisation of the two sets of standards which thing has led to a determination to revise a number of accreditation standards that are used downwards in cases where institutions have undergone institutional audits. The reason for this is that there are some overlaps between these two sets of standards which leads to duplication.

Clearly, this harmonisation will lead to improved service delivery by CHE to institutions. The turn-around time for programme accreditation will be reduced significantly.