Higher Education South Africa ’s (HESA) Enrolment Services

Four services and activities make up HESA’s enrolment programme. In brief, the following:

1. NiSHE—National Information Service for HE

In addressing the dearth of information and career counseling available in the majority of schools and broader society, NiSHE has a two-pronged strategy:

•  To provide information and guidance on the role and requirements of HE in South Africa to learners at schools, teachers, parents, FET colleges and prospective HE students; and
• To link HE programme and qualification pathways to future career directions and possibilities.

In 2005 this task translated into a set of materials developed for Grade 9 as well as Grades 11-12 learners:

• A Grade 9 Guide—Into Higher Education (September 2005)

The focus of the Guide is on assisting learners to make informed subject choices in light of the new Grades 10-12 curriculum phased in from 2006, and the new minimum admission requirements that will come into effect with the first National Senior Certificate in 2008. NiSHE worked in close collaboration with the Department of Education who took responsibility for the dissemination of the Guide to all public and private schools and provincial departments of education.

• In further partnership with the Department, NiSHE developed three of four supplements which appeared in ReadRight of the Sunday Times in October 2005.
• A Guide for Grades 10-12 (November 2005)

In terms of current policy, materials were developed and published in The Teacher, a supplement of the Mail & Guardian, with the focus on current entry requirements, higher education qualifications and information on a restructured HE landscape.

In the first semester of 2006 the focus shifts to the development of a data-driven website that focuses on three key sources of information:

• What is on offer in higher education?
• What are programme-specific entry requirements?
• How do qualification pathways lead to career prospects?

It is anticipated that this phase of development will be completed by mid-2006 and that in the second half of 2006 the focus will be on the further development of print materials for dissemination to schools, FET colleges and, via the media, to the various constituencies served by NiSHE. 

2. The Matriculation Board & future Admissions Service

The Matriculation Board continues to fulfill its statutory role and function in regulating admissions to degree study, which entails a range of services:

• Certifying applications for exemption from the matriculation endorsement requirements;
• Benchmarking foreign and SADC qualifications and maintaining international profiles on 169 countries; and
• Providing critical advisory services to schools, parents and HE institutions.

In its service to students and institutions in 2005, close to 31 000 certificates were issued; in different terms, the Matriculation Board continues to provide an important service to students who do not meet the statutory minimum admission requirements to enter first degree studies in HE in South Africa.

Three issues are important to highlight:

• With the phasing in of the new policy on minimum admission requirements, the services of the Matriculation Board and future Minimum Admissions Services will be extended to include the regulation of minimum entry requirements to certificate, diploma and degree study and its services will, in time, be offered to both public and private HE institutions.
• In the interim transition period, and following a recent bilateral meeting with the Department of Education on 9 March 2006, the Deputy-Director General (HE branch) has requested that HESA develop a proposal related to the regulation of minimum admission requirements in terms of the current qualification frameworks (i.e. Reports 116 and 150), as well as determine entry requirements to specific programmes of study in terms of the new schools curriculum and draft HEQF. Both tasks will be attended to as a matter of priority.
• The Admissions Committee that will operate in parallel to the existing Matriculation Board will have as a priority task the preparation of HE institutions for the 2008/9 admissions cycle and the need to align admissions systems with the new schools exit qualification, the National Senior Certificate.

3. The National Benchmark Tests project & future Assessment Service 

The purpose of the National Benchmark Tests project is three-fold:

• To assess entry-level academic literacy and numeracy/mathematics proficiencies of learners;
• To assess the relationship between entry level proficiencies and school-level exit outcomes; and
• To provide a service to institutions requiring additional information in the admission and placement of entry level students.

The pilot phase of the project is planned for 2005-2007 and its management has been outsourced to the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) at the University of Cape Town . Three national test development teams have been established and the tests are presently being piloted.

It is anticipated that by early 2007 the project will assess entry level proficiencies across the HE system, and that by 2008 the test development phase will be completed and the tests can be offered to individuals and institutions to aid the process of fair and accurate admission and placement decisions. 

The governance structures proposed for HESA’s enrolment services are captured in the attached diagram. 

4. Monitoring of systems flow; enrolment, throughput/retention rates and graduation rates

The overall goal of this project is to ensure the consistent monitoring of patterns and trends in sector enrolment, throughput/retention and graduation in order to provide accurate information and analyses on systems flow, efficiencies and strategic sector action that may be deemed necessary.