DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION National Council of Provinces AND TRAINING National Council of Provinces National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Amendment Bill 30 January 2019

Purpose To provide the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) with information pertaining to the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Amendment Bill in order for the NCOP to consider the NQF Amendment Bill.

Introduction The second reading of the NQF Amendment Bill in Parliament took place on 27 November 2018.   The National Assembly approved the NQF Amendment Bill. It was referred to the NCOP for consideration. The NQF Amendment Bill seeks to institute measures to address the matter of misrepresentation of qualifications and improve measures to impose consequences on persons who misrepresent their qualifications or organizations that issue qualifications that are invalid.

Consultation The first draft National Qualifications Framework Amendment Bill was published for public comment in the Government Gazette No. 40430 on 18 November 2016   The Department received 48 comments and inputs from various interested individuals and organisations The revised draft was workshopped with SAQA and the QCs again and new additions were added The DHET concluded the Socio-economic Impact Assessment System (SEIAS) process and the processes with the Office of the State Law Advisor

Consultation process The first draft National Qualifications Framework Amendment Bill was published for public comment in the Government Gazette No. 40430 on 18 November 2016 Pursuant to the publication of the draft Bill, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) received 48 comments and inputs from various interested individuals and organisations. The comments were duly considered and many were incorporated into the revised draft Amendment Bill The revised draft was workshopped with SAQA and the QCs again and new additions were added The DHET concluded the Socio-economic Impact Assessment System (SEIAS) process and the processes with the Office of the State Law Advisor The SEIAS and DoJ certificates were received and the Amendment Bill was submitted to the Speaker of the National Assembly for presentation to Parliament

Consultation cont. The Portfolio Committee called for public comments and received 15 submissions. ABSA Chartered Secretaries Southern Africa (CSSA) Council on Higher Education (CHE) Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Da Vinci Institute Durban University of Technology (DUT); Financial Planning of Southern Africa (FPI) Institute of Directors Southern Africa (IoDSA) Mr A Barnard – First Aid Training Provider Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO); South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA Independent Institute of Education (IIE) Umalusi University of Johannesburg (UJ) Universities South Africa (USAf).

Consultation 9 oral submissions were heard by the portfolio Committee: The second reading of the NQF Amendment Bill in Parliament took place on 27 November 2018 and was referred to the NCOP.   ABSA Council on Higher Education (CHE) Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) The Independent Institute of Education (IIE) University of Johannesburg Da Vinci Institute Umalusi Universities South Africa

History The genesis of the Bill arose from incidents of misrepresentation of and/or presentation of invalid qualifications by employees in the wider public sector, members and employees of some Boards or Councils of Public Entities, some members of the Diplomatic Corp, consultants appointed by public entities and State-owned entities (SoEs) and members of the general public.   This increasingly damaged the image of the State, bringing Government into disrepute; eroding confidence in, and the integrity of our education, training and qualifications systems and impacting on the delivery of services.

History Cont. In 2015 Cabinet approved the request of the Minister of Higher Education to: institute measures to address the matter of misrepresentation of qualifications and presentation of invalid qualifications in the broader Public Sector; that the Minister should approach his counterparts in all national departments to institute and/or strengthen measures in regards to the verification of qualifications of all employees, members of Boards of public enterprises and state-owned entities, and consultants to departments and entities, across national, provincial and local government spheres; and strengthen the NQF Act, with a view to improve measures to deal with issues of misrepresentation, impose consequences on persons who misrepresent their qualifications or organizations that issue qualifications that are invalid. This NQF Amendment Bill (20 OF 2018) therefore seeks to address issues of misrepresentation, consequence management of such, and related issues to strengthen the State’s ability to deal with these issues

Key areas of focus in the Amendment Bill The Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Long Title, to provide for: New definitions For the registration of private education institutions or skills development providers to offer qualifications or part-qualifications or any component thereof as contemplated in the principal Act For the verification of all qualifications or part-qualifications referred to SAQA To provide evaluation of foreign qualification by SAQA, and the formulation of evaluation criteria of foreign qualifications

Key areas Cont… The establishment and maintenance of separate registers of misrepresented and fraudulent qualifications, and professional designations by SAQA The legal duty to report misrepresented qualifications by education institutions, providers and employees The referral of certain employees qualifications or part-qualifications to SAQA for verification To create offences and impose penalties which have a bearing on fraudulent qualifications; provide for transitional arrangements and for matters connected therewith

Generic Issues raised in public hearings A number of issues were raised in the recent public hearings, which are broadly categorised as: SAQA’s capacity to implement allocated aspects of the Bill Relationships between SAQA and the QCs Autonomy of the QCs Verification services provided by other agencies as well The Portfolio Committee considered each written and oral submission The State Law Advisor and the Parliamentary legal services provided legal opinion about all issues raised through the consultation process. Through further discussion with SAQA and a visit to its premises, the Portfolio Committee satisfied itself that SAQA could fulfil all the requirements of the NQF Amendment Bill

SAQA’s Capacity and turn-around and time-frames SAQA: Registration of qualifications: 100% done within 2 to 4 months; (CHE: 6 to 12 months to accredit learning programmes) Verification of national qualifications: 91% done within 2 to 5 working days; rest within 20 working days Evaluation of foreign qualifications: 15 days depending on the country of origin Priority Timeframe (Working days) Extra Up to 2 Working days Special 3 to 5 WDs Standard 6 to 20 days Bulk Up to 20 days

Pricing structure This pricing structure refers to qualifications obtained in South Africa. The evaluation and verification of foreign qualifications by SAQA are dealt with separately Quoting will be based on the requested timeframe, while invoicing will be based on the actual turnaround times. The upper end of the range of days indicated is for the maximum time envisaged for the verification of the record; however, actual times may be shorter Individuals requesting verification of their qualifications do not pay; a charge is levied to third parties such as companies and organisations requesting verification

Pricing structure Should a record not be able to be verified within the turnaround time selected by a client due to external delays or dependencies, then the next best turnaround option will become applicable. SAQA will invoice the client for the achieved turnaround times A Bulk submission is a verification submission of 125 or more records either for National Senior certificates or tertiary records. The minimum fee for a Bulk submission is R6 000.00, for the initial 125 records found, with a further R40.00 per record found thereafter. (National Senior certificate bulk is only undertaken for school leaving certificates 1992 onwards and the certificate numbers must be included in the submission)

Formulae that SAQA uses to quote and invoice Qualification Category Verification Category Priority Timeframe (Working days) Research Required Cost per Record Senior Certificate (Pre-1992) Individual record Extra Up to 2 Fieldwork required R215.00 Special 3 to 5 R160.00 Standard 6 to 20 * R130.00 National / Senior Certificate (1992 onwards) Fieldwork – electronic and manual method R90.00 R80.00 Fieldwork - electronic & manual method R70.00 NSC Bulk records Fieldwork - electronic method (R6 000.00/ application for min 125 records) R40.00

Formulae cont… Tertiary (SA National) Individual Tertiary record Extra Up to 2 No fieldwork required R500.00 Fieldwork required R800.00 Special 3 to 5 R250.00 R650.00 Standard 6 to 20* R125.00 6 to 20 * R400.00 Tertiary Bulk records No fieldwork required (R6 000/application for min 125 records) R40.00 Inconclusive ALL categories When a result is recorded as inconclusive When a record R70.00

Formulae cont… Priority Timeframe (working days) Research Required Cost per LETTER Cabinet letters Qualifications: School leaving and Tertiary records.   Urgent Extra 1 (Up to close of business the day after the request) Fieldwork required As per Qualifications Table for each Extra Priority item, Minimum R2 000.00 Special 2 to 5 As per Qualifications Table for each Special Priority item, Minimum R650.00 Standard 6 to 20 * As per Qualifications Table for Standard Priority item, Minimum R550.00 Letters of Verification As per Qualifications Table per item , Minimum R240.00 Request for appeal R1000.00 per record (Refundable if successful)

Capacity: SAQA’s E-Certificate and digitisation SAQA has developed and successfully piloted the e-Certificate for verification It is a world first As soon as the evaluation is done a link is sent to the client who can register immediately and then the Esaqa certificate of evaluation is available SAQA is busy with a digitisation project that includes teacher qualifications records, held by DHET and Grade 12 records held by DBE The QCTO is digitising the trade certificates

Other Verification agencies UJ and TUT set up a company called QVS which signed up other universities QVS was bought out by PURCO which then set up PurQ as a base PurQ recruits other institutions Institutions outsource verification and transcripts to PurQ who in turn charges the individual learners and companies Splits the income between the individual institutions and themselves MIE and QVS/PurQ are competitors Umalusi has a contract with MIE; MIE pays Umalusi to conduct its verifications In the Umalusi model, the State pays over and over again to do the verification of one learner SAQA pointed this out to Umalusi, as an unacceptable practice

Difference between SAQA & other agencies’ verification processes Other agencies only establish whether the learner has obtained a qualification They don’t establish whether the qualification is a registered qualification on the NQF, whether the provider is accredited or the qualification is at the appropriate level The example is of Tshwane Municipality was serviced by MIE SAQA does all verifications of high level employee in government line function departments There has been no comeback Public outcry has arisen when public entities use service providers outside of the public services For evaluation/verification of foreign quals. Other agencies do not first verify the authenticity of the qual. And the institution; SAQA does this SAQA is linked to international, continental and regional verification agencies, such as GDN, AQVN and SADCQVN

Autonomy issues The QCs are not autonomous in matters related to management of its sub-framework, as the Sub-framework is part of the wider framework and the CHE should consult with other bodies including SAQA

Autonomy issues IMPLEMENTATION PLAN Once the NQF Amendment Bill has been recommended by the NCOP it will be signed by the President and promulgated. The Minister of Higher Education and Training has already requested SAQA to: institute a register on misrepresented and fraudulent qualifications and institutions Provide her reports about such incidences every two months SAQA already: Refers cases to the Hawks for prosecution Receives the reports from the three Quality Has already introduced an E-certificate Provides a verification service for all government departments, members who are appointed to Boards or governance structures of public entities and SoEs, and consultants in the Public Sector

Other issues ORGANISATIONAL AND PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS SAQA will need to appoint more staff in the Fraud Unit. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS SAQA will need additional funds to be voted from Treasury for it to establish and maintain the fraud unit and the registers associated with implementing the NQF Amendment Bill. Currently verification and foreign qualifications evaluation services are self-funded it is envisaged that additional funding will be required if SAQA is to implement all aspects of the NQF Amendment Bill. COMMUNICATION IMPLICATIONS Government Communication and Information System will be consulted with regard to the communication implications. The Minister will communicate and engage with SAQA and the QCs.

Autonomy issues CONSTITUTIONAL IMPLICATIONS The recommendations are in line with the Constitution of South Africa. IMPLICATIONS FOR VULNERABLE GROUPS None. SECURITY IMPLICATIONS There are security implications for the State as people who misrepresent their qualifications or who hold invalid qualifications could be considered a security risk in their interaction with the State. The State Security Agencies will be consulted in terms of managing the security implications should this become necessary.

Conclusion It is important to regulate the misrepresentation and fraudulent presentation of qualifications; as well as institutions which are corrupt, and function fraudulently If this is not addressed we will be seen as a government that does not care about its citizens Citizens need to be assured that we will deal with this sort of corruption, and this will have a positive effect Professional bodies will be required to institute consequence management for persons who had misrepresented their professional registration certification or presented invalid registration certificates. An appeals process as well as procedures for making the entries and removing them from the register The private sector will be required to institute similar verification measures as those contemplated for We must ensure that people are held accountable and institutions and employers are held accountable when the misrepresent qualifications or commit fraud. This bill addresses these issues

Thank you