The focus on educational quality has changed dramatically in recent times: from evaluation as a summative judgment by agencies conferred with authority to declare fitness for/of purpose to an evidence based approach of gathering and analyzing institutional data and making this available for research and reflection.

Norris, (1998) alludes to the need for educational institutions to become ‘more adaptive’ in the face of the complexity and unpredictability. “Institutional reflexivity and the learning organisation lie at the heart of this impulse toward evaluation” (Norris, 1998). Under this gaze, the individualistic approaches to quality assurance have given way to developmental conceptions of quality as a shared systemic function and a responsibility of the Higher Education sector as a collective.

In introducing its Quality Enhancement Project, The South African Council on Higher Education (CHE) underscores the vital role quality higher education has to play in contributing to the reconstruction and development of all aspects of South African society to produce “Enhanced student learning with a view to increasing the number of graduates with attributes that are personally, professionally and socially valuable”.

Participants are invited to share their perspectives on the value of collaborative quality enhancement approaches for systemic change in Higher Education and their prospects to elevate the quality of higher education as a system.

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