Quality considerations in South African higher education

Abstract

The implementation of quality assurance systems in higher education have never been accepted without debate nor severe critique. This can partially be ascribed to academics' strong views on academic freedom and autonomy. In this paper an admissible distinction between quality assurance and quality enhancement as two entries on a continuum is made. A plea is made that Southern African higher education institutions should invest in establishing self-reflective practices rather than a culture of compliances. The author concludes that quality enhancement embedded in a self-evaluation approach has the potential to make a contribution towards transforming the South African higher education system in more than one way.