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The University of KwaZulu-Natal hosts the South African Association for Institutional Research Quality Forum

Attendess of the SAAIR Quality Forum hosted by UKZN at the Umhlanga Gateway Hotel.

The 2024 South African Association for Institutional Research (SAAIR) Quality Forum, a two-day event that brought together stakeholders from across the Higher Education sector, was hosted by UKZN under the title: Beyond the Margins: Redefining and Transforming Practice for Contextually Relevant Quality Assurance in Higher Education.

The Forum was co-ordinated by the Quality Promotion and Assurance Office which falls under the UKZN Teaching and Learning Portfolio (UTLP). The Quality Forum themes included digital transformation, internal quality promotion and assurance management systems, collaborative partnerships, and professionalising quality assurance.

Welcoming delegates and presenters to the Quality Forum, SAAIR President Ms Elizabeth Booi stated that digital transformation is currently a critical driver for quality assurance, adding that technology hasd revolutionised how universities teach , understand and ensure the quality of the practice. Booi said: ‘However, as we embrace this advancement, we must always ensure the ethical and contextually relevant applications respecting the unique context of our own institutions.

The Quality Forum was tailored for quality practitioners from various Higher Education institutions with its goal being to provide a platform for collaborative engagement on quality-related matters to strengthen planning, management, and decision-making processes at institutional and sectorial levels. In her keynote address, the Teaching and Learning Interim Director Professor Nyna Amin spoke on the continually transforming technology which in turn transforms Higher Education, impacting quality assurance. ProfAmin stated that the complicated Artifcal intelligence (AI) tools are changing while quality assurance objectives in Higher Education remained the same. 

With these technological changes, the ever-evolving and unattainable goal of educational excellence is always just beyond reach.  Amin said the end result is a sophisticated learning system producing impressive data however struggling to meaningfully improve the students’ experiences outcomes. She added that AI applications in the Higher Education Sector range from comprehensive plagiarism detection to predictive, analytics and automated evaluating systems.
Council on Higher Education’s Director of National Standards and Reviews, Dr Sanele Nene urged quality assurance practitioners to ask themselves why they do the work they do and for whom they are doing it. He said quality assurance is a mind-set over practice, and that quality practitioners should live and breathe quality.

Dr Nene also highlighted a few quality assumptions that have created perceptions within the Higher Education sector and society. He said these are used as indicators of quality in institutions and they include: student protests; an institution being under administration; global rankings as accurate indicators of quality; assumptions that historically privileged institutions have better quality assurance mechanisms; and the availability of resources. He urged institutions to allocate resources to quality assurance.

A panel discussion chaired by UKZN’s Professor Michael Samuel examined benefits of professionalising quality assurance and the support required. Other speakers unpacked and led discussions around digital tools and technology such as AI, real time analytics and quality dashboards that allow QPA offices to monitor student and institutional outcomes with precision.

The Quality Forum forms part of SAAIR’s ongoing efforts to strengthen institutional research and its application within Higher Education. SAAIR, established in 1994, is a professional body dedicated to advancing research, analying , and producing robust management information to support Higher Education institutions and agencies. The association champions the adoption of interdisciplinary methodologies to improve quality, decision-making, and resource allocation within the sector.

Words: Sithembile Shabangu
Photographs: Yola Ndzabe