The Council on Higher Education (CHE) is responsible for the quality assurance of higher education (Higher Education Act 101 of 1997, 1997; Higher Education Amendment Act No. 39 of 2008). The CHE assigns the primary responsibility for assuring a high quality of provision, in the core areas of Teaching and Learning, Research, and Community Engagement to higher education institutions, and is the responsibility of all students, staff, and stakeholders of the University (White Paper 3, 1997). At the Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT), the responsibility for institutional level quality assurance processes is assigned to the Quality Management Directorate (QMD). Through its quality assurance and enhancement processes, MUT ensures that the quality, appropriateness, and integrity of its teaching and learning, assessment, research, and community engagement consistently meet and aspire to exceed the minimum requirements of the University, the regulatory and professional bodies.

In line with its mandate and as part of its scheduled activities, the QMD has oversight of and supports the internal and external programme accreditation processes for new and existing programmes, conducts programme and thematic reviews, coordinates Module Surveys and the annual Graduate Survey and ensures the integrity of the assessment process through regular reviews and audits. Further, the QMD coordinates institution-wide quality-related projects (including regulatory body projects), provides quality-related support for professional body accreditation and performs other quality-related functions as mandated by the University’s Executive Management Committee (EMC).

The QMD has in place the requisite policies, procedures, strategies and resources that underpin the approach to quality assurance at MUT and takes into cognisance the institutional and national legislative requirements that are indicators of minimum standards necessary to support and enhance the quality of provision. Given that the University’s 2020-2025 strategic plan lists excellence in teaching and learning, research and community engagement as its Strategic Goals 1, 2 and 3, the QMD ensures that the outcomes of quality assurance processes are used to improve the quality of provision across the University. All quality assurance processes lead to the development and implementation of improvement plans, the progress of which is monitored and reported on regularly. In this way, MUT is able to ensure that it engages in a continuous cycle of planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating and that it is on the trajectory to improvement and achieving its strategic goals.