Further details on how this will be implemented are requested. The Document includes 'community service programmes' in the HEQC's area of responsibility. Clarification is required as to what constitutes 'community service' as well as a definition of 'community'. It is critical that the HEQC is adequately resourced and the University urges the Ministry of Education to provide adequate funding for this purpose. If the funds cannot be provided, aims and activities need to be reconsidered.
Quality costs money and quality assurance costs even more.
Whilst the most effective way of ensuring accountability is to link funding directly to quality, Rhodes agrees that this would not be in the best interests of a restructured higher education system in South Africa which is at a crucial point in its development. The proposed indirect link to funding is considered an acceptable compromise, particularly in the light of experience in the British system where funding was directly linked to QA and quality audits became threatening inspections, viewed with suspicion and hostility by many institutions. The introduction of incentive funding is welcomed and further details are awaited with interest. The University accepts that it will take time to establish an effective and appropriate QA structure for South African higher education. The proposed two year development phase is therefore seen as unavoidable.