Short courses now accredited

The CEO of the Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA), Franz Gertze, announced this week that his organisation together with the Namibia Training Authority (NTA) will formally recognise short courses.
A Memorandum of Understanding to this effect was entered into by Gertze and Jerry Beukes, CEO of the NTA. Beukes said the agreement is immediate and students doing short courses can now pursue these for certification.
The MoU follows after the the two sister organisations were inundated with requests from industry and training institutions to formally recognise short courses provided by accredited training institutions. The NQA then commissioned a study to consult key stakeholders and seek their views and recommendations in relation to the formal recognition of short courses.
The study specifically designed a strategy that would lead to the recognition of short courses, a process of particular importance and significance to VET Levy paying employers who under the current Employer Training Grant Funding Allocation programme may claim up to half of their contributions, based on evidence of training conducted for a particular financial year.
It was decided that short courses be strictly defined as any activity involving teaching and learning that requires less than 400 hours of learner effort or less than 40 NQA credits.
It was also decided that short courses that are credit and non-credit bearing be registered with the NQA, provided that they fall outside the intended scope and purpose of the NQF.
The introduction of the NTA’s regulations for the Registration of Vocational Education and Training (VET) Providers and rules relating to the use of the VET Levy for Funding Training Programmes and Projects made it necessary for the formal approval of short courses.
Quality assurance of credit bearing short courses must also be offered by an accredited institution as per provisions of the Accreditation Regulations. Non-credit bearing skill development programmes, where such courses are vocational in nature, requires that the provider and the course must be registered with the NTA.
The responsibilities for assuring the quality for any short courses and the meeting of professional development requirements and ongoing rights to practice as a professional is the responsibility of the relevant professional bodies recognised by government, the NQA said.
Categories of Short Course fall under two broad categories, mainly those that are credit bearing and registered on the NQF, and non-credit bearing in that they fall outside the intended scope and purpose of the NQF.
The NQA and NTA said, as regulatory organisations under the Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Innovation, they will continue to engage their stakeholders regarding solutions and how to proceed as far as their implementation is concerned.