Recent changes in the NQF structure support the South African government’s priority to develop a skills and training strategy to meet the national agenda on skills and job creation.

Three sub-frameworks have been established under three Quality Councils namely:

• General and Further Education and Training (GET and FET)
• Higher Education (HET)
• Trades and Occupations (TO)

These councils will develop qualifications and in consultation with SAQA, develop criteria for the registration of their qualifications and qualification types by SAQA.

The new framework has nine qualification types mapped out onto the NQF Levels 5 – 10.
Undergraduate qualifications include: Higher Certificates; Advanced Certificates; Diplomas; Advanced Diplomas and Bachelor’s Degrees.

Postgraduate qualifications include: Postgraduate Diplomas; Bachelor Honours Degrees; Master’s Degree and Doctoral Degrees.

The implementation of the new NQF is the responsibility of the Council on Higher Education and this process was started in 2011. This process requires that all higher education institutions assess their current qualifications and re-align them to the new NQF.

PMI has already commenced with this and we are planning to use this as an opportunity for growth and to extend the number of accredited HE qualifications that we offer. Our first application for accreditation for a Higher Certificate has already been submitted to the CHE for accreditation.