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NQA concerned about current accreditation legislation
NQA concerned about current accreditation legislation

NQA concerned about current accreditation legislation

Herma Prinsloo
NAMPA

WINDHOEK



The Namibia Qualifications Authority's (NQA) head of accreditation audit and assessment, Polli Andima, has said the current legislation regarding accreditation of institutions poses a challenge as it makes accreditation optional.

Speaking at the Government Information Centre on Wednesday, Andima said the legislation states that institutions may apply for accreditation.

“In other words, an institution may decide to apply or not and that has posed a challenge to us because we can only accredit or consider applications of institutions that have applied to us.

That in itself is a problem and that is why we sit with many institutions that are not accredited because accreditation is not compulsory,” he said.

Andima, however, said to avoid members of the public studying through unaccredited institutions, the NQA has a free service where anyone can approach them to find out whether a given institution or programme is accredited or not. He further stated that the service also applies to those wishing to pursue studies outside Namibia.

Andima further added that education is an investment and therefore before anyone decides to enrol with an institution, they should conduct research to see whether it is accredited.

“If you study at an unaccredited institution and obtain a qualification that we will not be able to recognise then it means you have wasted your resources and investment.

Employers will possibly also not recognise such qualifications.

Therefore, whether it is a local institution or not we are advising people to first check the accreditation status before you enrol,” he said.

Andima however noted that despite the challenges posed by the legislation many institutions are forced to seek accreditation for sponsorship purposes.

This week NQA cautioned prospective students who qualified for progression to higher learning institutions and those registering for programmes for the 2021 academic calendar to verify their accreditation status prior to enrolment.

The authority also noted that there could be bogus institutions that fraudulently use the NQA's name to lure unsuspecting learners to their institutions.

Prospective students are urged to visit NQA's website for a list of accredited institutions and to also ascertain any changes to the scopes of accreditation and registration of institutions.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-24

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