Institutional Accreditation - Durban - MANCOSA

Description

Institutional Accreditation & Compliance Manager

Job Category: University and Academy

Location: Durban

Contract: Fixed Term Contract

EE Position: Yes

About the Role

MANCOSA, a registered and accredited private higher education distance education provider, is seeking an Institutional Accreditation & Compliance Manager to join our team.

The successful appointee will be responsible for ensuring all internal compliance related to accreditation is aligned to higher education regulatory requirements and any other relevant regulations.

Main Responsibilities

Accreditation:

1. Provide leadership on national reviews, accreditation and compliance requirements by ensuring the institution's policies, systems and procedures are effective and fall within the accreditation and regulatory requirements.
2. Lead teams, provide clear expectations and handle the needs of staff members who work under the Accreditation & Compliance Manager.
3. Create mechanisms to promote and continuously improve core academic functions.
4. Manage and maintain registration and accreditation status in SADC regions.
5. Manage registration and accreditation of higher education partnership institutions.
6. Review and submit HEQC accreditation applications and SAQA and DHET applications in accordance with the criteria specified by each regulatory body.
7. Oversee the work of the Accreditation and Compliance unit and manage tasks and activities in terms of accreditation, reaccreditation, site visits, institutional research and programme review and development.
8. Succinctly manage and coordinate conditions responses, representations, improvement plans.
9. Evaluate and upload approved HEQC reaccreditation applications for the DHET reregistration cycles and oversee the process by which programmes were reviewed.
10. Manage the collating, compiling and submitting institutional accreditation applications for regions.
11. Manage institutional preparations for site visits and institutional audits.
12. Assess and improve accreditation processes in areas of responsibility.

Compliance:

1. Provide leadership on the implementation of all regulatory requirements and conduct an annual internal institutional regulatory compliance review.
2. Ensure completion of all reporting requirements and submission of the DHET Annual Report in adherence to guidelines provided by the DHET.
3. Manage verification of SAQA records and overseeing NLRD uploads to the HEQCIS according to the standardised template issued.
4. Develop and maintain an auditing programme around compliance for the institution.
5. Identify and assess potential compliance-related risk areas and develop a compliance and risk mitigation programme around all related compliance activities to detect, prevent, and resolve issues.
6. Maintain a schedule of all compliance-related activities across the institution and follow-up on completion of these activities across all departments.
7. Develop policies and procedures for the institution on compliance.
8. Collect and maintain compliance data.
9. Lead the planning, coordination and facilitation of successful Site Visits.
10. Attend appropriate meetings, conferences or workshops held by regulatory bodies and provide feedback.

Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) and Institutional Audits Framework (IAF):

1. Provide leadership, guidance and oversight of quality promotion and capacity development, institutional audits, standards development, national reviews, programme accreditation and re-accreditation as well as institutional adaptation and change management aligned to QAF and IAF.
2. Conduct gap analyses in context of the QAF and Institution Audit Framework.
3. Ensure that the implementation of the Continuous Improvement Plan aligns improvements to the QAF and IAF.
4. Ensure that successful audits are conducted on the implementation of improvements that were identified in the continuous improvement plan.
5. Design, develop and implement the digital Quality Assurance Management System (QAMS).
6. Workshop stakeholders, review and implement improvements to the QAMS.

Capacity Building:

1. Develop a strong team to enable the accreditation and compliance deliver on its mandate.
2. Restructure teams and workloads in accordance with operational and academic requirements.
3. Identify training and development opportunities for Monitoring and Evaluation team and implement succession plans.
4. Identify critical skills essential for the quality service delivery of accreditation & compliance unit and take responsibility for further development of relevant and essential skills to improve team's performance.
5. Implement compliance workshops across the institution, inclusive of a regional roadshow.

Stakeholder Relationship:

1. Build and sustain relationships with key external regulatory bodies.
2. Facilitate internal and external stakeholders to: develop detailed project plans related to the institutional audit / site visit, review and edit compliance & quality assurance documentation, provide expert input for the institutional digital Quality Assurance Management System (QAMS), and provide expert input in logistics planning as well as execution of the audit / site visit itself.
3. Project manage the process of new qualification development and submission to accreditation authorities including responding to conditions where required.
4. Quality assure the curricula of qualifications developed for accreditation to ensure that programme accreditation criteria meet all HEQSF requirements.
5. Review, propose amendments and participate in governance and programme approval committees.
6. Ensure compliance with relevant professional bodies in context of design and accreditation of programmes where required.
7. Ensure payments are signed off for submission of programme to CHE.

Programme Review and Audits:

1. Monitor review and audits of programmes.
2. Ensure these reviews follow established processes and are taken through the appropriate governance structures.

Special Projects:

1. Manage and coordinate relevant ad hoc projects such as research projects and quality improvement projects across the institution.

Qualifications:

Minimum master's degree or equivalent in the field of Business and Commerce.

Experience:

1. Minimum of five years of progressively increasing responsibility working directly in a quality assurance or accreditation role, in a higher education institution with a focus on academic quality.
2. Ability to conduct institutional research to collect, analyze, and report on data and benchmark against regulatory standards and industry best practices.
3. Direct knowledge of, or experience with, regional/national and programmatic accreditation preferred.
4. Meticulously edit documents possessing a high level of attention to detail is required.
5. Manage complex and highly sensitive materials and foster a culture of confidentiality.
6. Strong work ethic with the ability to excel in a demanding, outcome-oriented, and dynamic environment with little supervision.
7. Creativity and the ability to envision and achieve a positive outcome.
8. Impeccable English verbal and written skills.
9. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the South African Higher Education landscape.
10. High level of computer literacy.
11. Strong project planning, monitoring, and evaluation skills.
12. Critical thinking and ability to assess, interpret and mitigate against risk.
13. Demonstrated ability to manage self and subordinates.
14. Analytical skills exercised effectively in context of implementing solutions and creating opportunities.
15. Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
16. Change management and effective stakeholder engagement capability.
17. Demonstrate and operate high levels of integrity.