State of Play: Regional Quality Assurance in Southern Africa (SADC)

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) jointly developed the Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies (DIES) programme, and were considering working on supporting quality assurance (QA) efforts in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) through regional capacity building. DAAD thus commissioned NBA to conduct a research study to provide information about QA in the region as a basis for future work of DAAD/DIES and the regional and national partners. The key aim of the research was to gain an understanding of existing QA frameworks in the region, with the research seeking to cover QA systems in all 15 SADC countries. An initial desktop research exercise was undertaken to identify QA practices in each country, followed by more in-depth research conducted via questionnaires, in order to understand external and internal QA systems in higher education, focused on QA-related needs, demands and priorities in each country.