Universities and decision-making: programme and qualification mix - four learning pathways
WP Nel
The introduction of the Higher Education Qualifications Framework
(HEQF) and the updated Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework
(HEQSF) has caused many South African university departments to
rethink their programme qualification mixes (PQMs). In addition to the
requirements stated in the HEQSF, a number of other factors have to be
taken into consideration by a university department. These factors
include, for example, the standards generated by the Engineering
Standards Generating Body (ESGB) and subsequently approved by the
Engineering Council of SA (ECSA) and the need to prepare students for
various categories of professional registration with ECSA. This means that
a university department has to choose the correct mix of Learning
Programmes (LPs) from the HEQSF menu (which consists of 13 types of
LPs). Preparing students for ECSA registration is aligned with the mission
of universities, which is to teach and undertake research. However,
research and the LPs associated with research go beyond the requirements
for current ECSA registration. Assuming that universities offering
engineering LPs would elect to prepare students for both ECSA registration
and teach them to produce research outputs, which is mostly done at
Master and Doctorate levels (NQF Levels 9 and 10), then it follows that
academics are more interested in NQF Level 5 to 10 pathways (abbreviated
as ‘L5-10’) rather than the shorter pathways required towards professional
registration. (For example, ECSA requires an NQF L5-L7 pathway
for registration as a candidate professional technologist. This specific
pathway may consist, for example, of two LPs, namely the 360-credit
Diploma and the Advanced Diploma.) A L5-L10 pathway is a combination
of LPs that will prepare the learner with a NSC (or equivalent qualification
at level 4) to Doctoral level (level 10). Universities may choose at least
four major pathways from the HEQSF menu in order to educate and
develop students from NQF Level 5 to 10. However, various pathways
towards registration in the category of candidate with ECSA are also
embedded into these four NQF L5-L10 pathways, where each consist of a
unique combination of LPs. Each of these pathways has an opportunity
cost, and economic reality means that smaller departments may have to
choose between the four pathways. Of all the many factors involved in
PQM decision-making, the focus of this paper is on the HEQSF
requirements, ECSA standards, and ECSA registration and how these,
together with the various qualifications and educational LPs provided for
by the HEQSF may impact on the PQM decision taken by engineering
departments and schools at South African universities. The proposed four
NQF L5-L10 ‘pathway tool’ for PQM decision-making may be useful for
pointing out the advantages, disadvantages, and applications of the
various pathways and combinations of pathways. Rather than deciding
from a menu of thirteen qualifications and associated LPs, this article
proposes that decision-making be undertaken on the basis of a menu of
four main articulated ‘NQF L5-L10’ pathways (which also include one or
more of the ECSA’s pathways for professional registration). The proposed
‘NQF L5-L10 pathway’ tool is an attempt to move one step closer to the
aim of achieving a structured decision-making approach for designing a
PQM at departmental level.