Languages: 
Walter Sisulu University is pleased to officially announce that the Council On Higher Education (CHE) have re-accredited the University for its Bachelor of Laws degree on Friday, 8 November.
A thrilled WSU Vice-Chancellor & Principal professor Rob Midgley following the announcement of the LLB re-accreditation said that he is very proud of the concerted efforts by his team who worked ever-so diligently on the re-accreditation of WSU programmes.
“It is a lovely warm feeling because this has caused so much anxiety to so many people. We just had to accept that we have to fix it and we did. The team that worked on this accreditation did such a good job even though it took a bit longer than we expected but they did their job properly and thoroughly. I’m feeling really good at the moment,” he said.
In 2015/2016 the CHE undertook a national review of the LLB programme, a peer driven exercise which focused on the re-accreditation of existing programmes based on the CHE’s programme accreditation criteria and LLB qualification standard.
WSU duly submitted its plan to CHE in October 2017 and subsequently learned that the university was unable to convince the CHE that its emergency remedial measures were sufficient to warrant the continuation of its LLB programme. Accordingly, WSU’s LLB programme accreditation was withdrawn.
Professor Midgley has stringent measures in place to make sure that the institution does not relapse into its previous state with all its academic programmes.
“This is not just an event because if we really want to remain a quality institution we must work every single day to make sure this remains the case. If we rest on our laurels, then we’re going to go back to where we came from. The important thing is that every staff member and student must make sure that they work towards making this a quality degree. It’s not something you can just celebrate and forget,” he said.
Midgley cautioned that the accreditation was conditional until a South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) ID is acquired which may take up to a month before the university registers new students into the LLB programme.
“A ‘prior to commencement’ condition refers to a matter that must be addressed prior to the commencement of recruiting students or the offering of the programme. The institution is requested to submit to the HEQC a progress report providing evidence of how the institution has addressed the condition,” added Midgley.
In addition to the LLB re-accreditation, WSU has also been recently accredited in the Bachelor of Social Work programme.
By: Sinawo Hermans
