Issue 11 February 2012

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Inside this issue

Reflections of an evaluation team member

MTC – Feedback from an institution recently audited by SQA

A perspective of an SQA accreditation process from an International consultant

An Overview of the work of the SQA Board over 2011

SIT proudly rewards carpen-ters for successfully complet-ing the RPL exercise

SQA’s role in the protection of learners

SQA achievements over 2011

In the news

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It has been remarked,ratherunkindly, that qualifi-cationsauthoritiescan some-time seem like traffic police-man. Without them the traffic might actually flow better. Are we making a difference? Six years after the setting up of the SQA our answer is a comfortable yes. As a tool for the Department of Public Administration in estab-lishing qualification levels and schemes of service, the National Qualifications Frame-work (NQF) is immediately relevant and has gained currency. For those who want their qualifications recognized nationally, the SQA provides a ready service. For fields of practice like the security industry, the hairdressers and librarians, the SQA has provided invaluable help in developing qualifications and standards that are internation-ally comparable. For the National Human Resource Development Council or learner who needs reassur-ance about the status of a programme or institution, the SQA provides ready assis-tance. At the end of 2011, due to the work we have under-taken with the Seychelles International Business Author-

Editorial ity, degree mills are no longer registered under the interna-tional business law. We are actively protecting the learner.At the level where it touches the learner on a day to day basis, the SQA has set criteria for programmes and we are supporting institutions to meet the standards set. Training programmes are changing to meet the requirements of the NQF. SQA is ensuring that programmes articulate with each other on the framework so that there will soon come a day when there are no dead end courses. The accredita-tion processes for post-secondary providers that we have started and will complete over 2012, will help our institu-tions to plan properly and to reach internationally compa-rable standards. The changes are already happening. They will not cure our problems overnight, but both learners and staff are already feeling the impact of the work.Reaching internationally com-parable standards is the reason why the SQA has engaged enthusiastically with the Transnational Qualifica-tions Framework (TQF). The Seychellois are an outward looking people and have always wanted a system which could facilitate the recognition of our qualifica-tions. In all sensitization ses-sions that SQA has hosted the

question of overseas portability of qualifications has been raised.On the occasion of the Launch of Open Schooling and the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth on the 2nd of March, the SQA bids a special welcome to the representatives of the quality assurance agencies from across the countries of the Commonwealth. We hope to be able to learn from their experiences, and perhaps show them why we feel that we are more than mere traffic policemen.

Reflections of an evaluation team member

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You are there for the benefit of the institution and its stake-holders, and everything you do should be for the purpose of developing, strengthening, improving and encouraging the provider to ‘raise the game’ and do an even better job of educating and training the people of Seychelles.’ I think that these lines taken from the Seychelles Qualifica-tions Guidelines for Accredita-tion Team Members best sum up the reasons for my involve-ment with the SQA Accredita-tion process. Being an external evaluator was one way I could best use my vast experience of schools and post secondary institutions to bring about further improvement to the education system. Secondly, the accreditation model of accountability and improve-ment adopted by SQA fitted in well with my own philosophy that real and sustainable improvement has to come from within the school/institution working in partnership with accreditation bodies.The SQA conducted its first accreditation exercises in three post secondary institutions from October to November 2011. I was an external evalu-ator on the Accreditation team for the Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA) and chaired the panel for accreditation at the Seychelles Maritime Centre (SMC.) We were fortu-nate to have the assistance of an experienced evaluator Alison Schmidt to guide us through the first accreditation. Alison had also conducted a short but intensive training for all prospective auditors in April 2011The role of an external evalua-tor is extremely demanding

developing, strengthening, improving and encouraging the provider to ‘raise the game’ and do an even better job of educating and training the people of Seychelles.’ I think that these lines taken from the Seychelles Qualifica-tions Guidelines for Accredita-tion Team Members best sum up the reasons for my involve-ment with the SQA Accredita-tion process. Being an external evaluator was one way I could

schools and post secondary institutions to bring about further improvement to the education system. Secondly, the accreditation model of accountability and improve-ment adopted by SQA fitted in well with my own philosophy that real and sustainable improvement has to come from within the school/institution working in partnership with

The SQA conducted its first

and requires high levels of professional and personal skills. . It also carries enor-mous responsibilities. When you recommend an institution for Accreditation, you are telling students, parents, stakeholders and the public that the institution is well man-aged, and has the capacity to deliver quality education of an international standard. It is extremely important therefore that you keep an open mind and continuously remind your-self to be as objective as pos-sible. Am I being fair? Am I being consistent? This can be very difficult in a small system where preconceived ideas about people and institutions can colour your judgements. The training leitmotiv ‘nothing is a fact until you have triangu-lated at least three sources of evidence to prove that it is a fact’ is a very useful guideline to keep you on track.An accreditation visit takes place over five days of inten-sive work when no distractions or socialising are allowed. The evaluator’s task is two-fold. One must first verify the quality and credibility of the self evalu-ation report produced by the Institution, and secondly rate the institution against 87 criteria/standards developed by SQA in partnership with its stakeholders. Six areas of the institution come under the scrutiny of the evaluators. They are 1) Leadership and Management, 2) Management of resources 3) Programme development, 4) Teaching and learning 5) Engagement with the community and 6) Manage-ment of Quality. This sheer volume of work seems over-whelming to start with but the job becomes more manage-

able once you have a good understanding of the criteria and where you need to go to look for the appropriate evidence. The comprehensive evaluation framework devel-oped by the SQA is also very useful document to guide the rating system. Evidence is gathered through observations, documentary analysis, and interviews with students, staff management and employers, analysis sis of data and statistics, findings of surveys and reports, going through minutes, emails and correspondence. One of the greatest drawbacks was the generally poor level of record keeping and documentation and the lack of data in the insti-tutions visited. Where data existed they had not been analysed to feedback into policy and action. It is difficult under these circumstances to make good evidence based judgements.Good team work is also extremely important. Team members are allocated areas to investigate depending on their expertise and interest. All members need to be fully on task when working under such tights time-lines. If one member fails to deliver on time, the whole process is jeopar-dised and the oral report cannot be delivered on time. Fortunately in both instances teams worked extremely hard to get the job done on time.We were made to feel very wel-come at both institutions and given access to all existing documentation. The self evalu-ation reports produced by both institutions were very frank and did not attempt to hide weak-nesses. This was an encour-aging start. Discussions with

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MTC – Feedback from an institution

recently audited by SQA

The self-evaluation process was an interesting but taxing exercise for the institution. It enabled the institution to reflect on its overall functions and running. It was a time for all staff to constructively offer their thoughts on how they perceive the institution and what needs to be done to tackle our weak-nesses.Initially SQA team members

presented the Quality Assur-ance Manual to staff in a gen-eral meeting. Then a four member team was formed to work on four sections of the six performance areas to be inves-tigated. One member was also allocated the responsibility of being the liaison person for the exercise and to ensure the work was being done in accor-dance with SQA requirements. A consultant was provided by SQA to help and guide us through the process. This was made possible through meet-ings, phone conversations and also emails exchanges with all team members but especially through the liaison person.Each member had to produce their own report under a dead-line of three weeks. Team members met several times to discuss planning the collection of information, what which tools to be used etc. We used questionnaires and interviews to gather evidence. The self-evaluation team then had to visit each department to collect information so that data collected could be analyzed in its entirety. Data collected related to resources such as institutional facilities, special-ized equipment and material. We also included verbal infor-mation from staff members and students. This enabled the group to come up with the advantages that institution enjoys and the disadvantages it faces, thereby allowing the team to offer recommenda-tions.During the process, one could sense the tension in the institu-tion as everyone tried to put together the documents need-ing for viewing and verification

by the auditors. In fact, one of the observations made was that the staff have now realized the importance of having everything documented instead of only expressing verbally that something has been done, for instance. Finally, all reports were com-piled by the liaison person and within one week the final com-pilation was submitted to SQA. While the exercise itself was demanding it enabled all mem-bers to obtain concrete infor-mation on the strengths and weaknesses of (what is work-ing and what is not working for) the institution. It is on that basis that we can therefore find ways to improve on our weaknesses. However, because the time frame for this exercise was so tight, it was not possible to carry out a more in-depth self-evaluation that would have provided both the institution and Department of Education with more verifiable points on which to base necessary changes. Nonetheless, the report is a useful tool for the institution that can be used to prioritize short and long term targets.

management staff, students, and employers were also lively and frank and often went beyond the allocated time. Findings were openly discussed and cross checked with the institution at regular intervals so that there were no big surprises when the report came out. The oral feedback and the recommendations were well accepted by the two institutions. This was a great source of satisfaction for the evaluators.For a first trial run, I must admit there were very few hitches. A lot of credit must go to the management of SQA for its good organisation and to the institutions themselves for their positive approach to the exer-cise. It takes a lot of courage to let outside evaluators come into your institutions and both STA and MTC must be con-gratulated for being among the first to volunteer for accredita-tion. of the 24th of October onwards, the Seychelles Quali-fication shift from the old system to this new one.

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A perspective of an SQA accreditation process from an Inter-national consultantOn Sunday 23rd October an Accreditation Team assembled for the first pilot implementa-tion of the new accreditation system. The members of the Team had all participated in training in April and were highly motivated to put their accredi-tation skills to work. The Team included Jill Tirant (SQA) Alison Schmidt (consultant to SQA), Jacqueline Gertrude (Inspectorate Unit, MoE), Mah-rookh Pardiwalla (Consultant to SQA), Elvis Julie (SIM).STA had submitted their self-evaluation report on schedule and we read it with great inter-est and began to formulate our plan to gather evidence to verify the report. STA had put a lot of effort into gathering evidence for their self-evaluation and had identified (and even quantified) areas of weakness as well as areas where they felt they were performing well. On the basis of their investigations they made a lot of recommenda-tions for improvement. The Accreditation Team had two major tasks to perform simultaneously:

Firstly needed to evaluate how well they had conducted the self-evaluation –did they use rigorous audit methods? Were their findings evidence-based? Did they involve all their stake-holders in the self-evaluations? Are their recommendations responsive to evidence based analysis of the institution?

Secondly we needed to inde-pendently rate STA’s perfor-mance against the quality crite-ria of the Evaluation Frame-

“...But there was a strong shared feel-ing in both institu-tions of a job well

done.”

work.We spent the week systemati-cally collecting mountains of evidence and making sense of it all! Our liaison person, Terence Max, worked tirelessly to support our efforts, and by Friday we were ready with our verbal report. The written report was ready by Saturday night, and this was sent to STA for factual accuracy checking. The next steps are the recom-mendation of the Quality Assurance Committee and the decision of the SQA Board on the accreditation status of STA.On Monday 31st October the next Accreditation Team began the same task at SAHTC. The Team included Jill Tirant (SQA) Alison Schmidt (consultant to SQA), Cynthia Renaud (UniSey); Monica Servina (consultant to SQA), and Marie-Cecile Benstrong (Inspectorate Unit, MoE). Our efforts were well supported by Mr Belmont and Mr Agathine and their staff. We sifted through piles of paper-based information for a week, and met with students, graduates, staff and employers in search of evidence to verify the self-evaluation report and evaluate performance against the stan-dards. By Friday we were ready with our findings and our recommendations!Both teams were very tired after the intensive activity and time pressure of the Accredita-tion Visits, and liaison staff of the two institutions were also visibly exhausted by the Friday of the Visit! But there was a strong shared feeling in both institutions of a job well done, and recognition of the great

benefit of an external perspec-tive on things.The outcomes of the Accredita-tion Visits will be finalised by the end of November.

Alison Schmit– International QA consultant

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Over view of the work of the SQA Board

Over 2011 SQA was governed by an 8 member Board. It was the final year of the second Board which continued to meet every second month to deliber-ate and give policy direction to the Secretariat. Over the last 6 years the Board has spent much time deliberat-ing policy directions for the Authority as the National Quali-fications Framework was being developed. Since the approval of the NQF regulations how-ever, the SQA has been in implementation mode.

Hence over 2011 Board policy debate and approval did not occupy center stage. In spite of this, the revision of the policy on accreditation and validation which forms the pillar of the work of the SQA occupied the attention of the Board for some time. Other important policy decisions that came before the Board were the policies relat-ing to cooperation with profes-sional bodies and for credit transfer. The former is now in operation whilst the latter is on hold pending sensitization of directly concerned stakehold-ers and the creation of enabling structures.

As the momentum of imple-mentation gathered pace, the monitoring of the NQF imple-mentation work became more prominent in Board delibera-tions. The outcome was that the Secretariat had to spend much time preparing reports from the front in relation to the development of standards setting, validation, accredita-tion and consultancies throughout the year.

NQF implementation also provided the context for the

development of a new and comprehensive strategic action plan for the next three years. This generated much debate at Board level and it was only in the final quarter that we reached agreement on the plan. Incidentally, by then we had almost reached the end of the first year of the plan. The approval of significant recommendations to do with revision of the Act on which the SQA had been established was another important achievement of the year.

Issues in relation to the devel-opment of SQA Information system, the University of Sey-chelles American Institute of Medicine (USAIM), the Car-pentry RPL trial, capacity build-ing at the level of the Secre-tariat and International Coop-eration issues in pertaining to the Transnational Qualifica-tions Framework and the SADC Regional Qualifications Framework remained standing items.

development of a new and development of a new and development of a new and development of a new and development of a new and development of a new and development of a new and development of a new and

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SIT proudly rewards carpenters for successfully completing the RPL exercise

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A group of 13 carpenters now see their career in a whole new light as they hold for the first time in their hands the tran-scripts of results testifying to the competencies that they have mastered.

The RPL assessment started in January 2011 with a group of fifteen participants between the age of twenty two and forty nine. Two dropped out for personal reasons during the assessment. The applicants were employed in different companies, performing gen-eral carpentry and joinery work, from furniture to building construction work and some have been in this field for over 20 years as the leading carpenters in their organization

They were eager to participate in as most of them did not pos-sess certificates or references in the trade, although there was enough evidence to show that they are skilful and knowl-edgeable in the principles of the trade. The participants were by and large mature people who recognized the importance of what we were trying to do.

They were assessed individu-ally in their work places on vari-ous units of the course.

During the process, I took the opportunity to give advice, and to guide them especially where safety was concern. There was a bit of frustration from both parties at first and it took a lot of effort to organize indi-

vidual assessment sessions as the carpenters were at times transferred to new locations and tasks without prior warn-ing, or at times they could not attend their sessions at the SIT due to work commitments. Others found it difficult to obtain necessary references from their employers. There were correspondingly logistical problems in moving from site to site, and particular problems related to onsite assessment. However as things progressed the RPL work became easier for both parties.

It was also during the process that most of the participants realized the importance of certificates and references, including photographs of their work. An important aspect that emerged from the assessment was that most of the partici-pants were well skilled in their work and had good knowledge of their trade.

The candidates have expressed satisfaction at the way in which the process was carried out and they are grate-ful to the SQA and SIT for the effort to reach out to them and to assist them in obtaining a formal qualification. However, some candidates will still need to re-sit units like IT and com-munication in order to com-plete the program so they can be awarded a full certificate.

They now feel more confident in their ability. One benefit of the exercise was that now they can affiliate themselves with a

training institution, and this feels like they have almost attended the course. Their efforts have paid off and after all these years they can finally be recognized for their skills. The door to further qualifica-tions is opened and others in the field can copy their examples.

Some words of Advice to the SQA

- As a follow up the SQA and the Department of Education must make an effort to assist those who did not obtain the requisite competencies for a full qualification by helping them to enroll on a bridging courseSQA must provide dedicated funding for transport logistics in the course of such assess-ment. I had to move from site to site often in my own time and on some risky roads- Two persons would done better work as assessors for fifteen participants, as this would also provide a witness/assistant in the process and make it more credible- A formal meeting should be held with the managers of the companies to explain the inten-tions of RPL, the role of the assessor and the SQA as well as discussing release for the participants if needed- The managers themselves could suggest one or two participants from their organi-zation to participate and to send new participants each time the process is held.

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SQA’s role in the protection of learners. Under the law which set up the SQA, it is stated that one of its functions is “to ensure the protection of the interests of learners”.One of the ways in which the SQA does this is by checking that institutions or programmes and institutions meet certain criteria, requirements or stan-dards, or achieve certain levels of performance. This task is commonly called programme validation and institutional accreditation.The accreditation process is intended to prevent the creation or continuation of poor quality programmes or institu-tions, and therefore can be seen as a consumer protection mechanism. Some institutions are genuine but offer below standard education and train-ing. Some institutions provide qualifications at a price, but the qualification is worthless because the ‘institution’ requires insufficient – or perhaps no - work to achieve it. Such institutions are com-monly referred to as degree

mills or diploma mills. The accreditation process is set up to weed out these sham institu-tions. Therefore, it is always useful in a country that such a national accreditation agency exists for potential students or would-be employers of gradu-ates to check that an institution is in good standing.Unfortunately, some unscrupu-lous operators have recogn-ised that the basic consumer check is to ask whether an institution is accredited. There-fore there has been an emer-gence of bogus or spurious accrediting bodies, called ‘accreditation mills’. These enable an institution to claim to be accredited, thus trying to fool consumers into believing that the institution is genuine. The existence of accreditation mills therefore means that a consumer (student, employer, etc.) must go one step further and investigate whether the claimed accreditation is genu-ine.To assist consumers in the identification of recognized agencies the following web-sites offer some lists of recog-nized and valid accrediting / quality assurance / recognition bodies. INQAAHE(www.inqaahe.org) The Council for HE Accreditation (CHEA) http://www.chea.org/search/default.asp The European QA Register (EQAR) http://www.eqar.eu/register.html ENQA full members: http://www.enqa.eu/agencies.lasso APQN full and associate members: http://www.apqn.org/membership/members/

“…...The accredi-tation process is

intended to prevent the creation or con-

tinuation of poor quality programmes or institutions, and hence can be seen as a consumer pro-tection mechanism

”

- Because of the demanding nature of the assessor work, the SQA should pay a larger allowance

Finally I must say that I appre-ciated the task. It was very challenging and difficult at times. I feel have been able to gain respect of the participants and some of their colleagues and have learned a lot from them as well. I’d like to thank the SQA for giving me this opportunity as well.

Our adviceBefore joining any programme either locally or overseas – face to face or distance, learners are strongly advised to find out if the programme and institution is accredited, and if not, to find an alternative. To be certain, check with SQA.

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In many ways 2011 was a momentous year for the SQA. As an organization created to ensure the quality of education and training it was of great importance to us when we started the process of accredit-ing the institutions. With the help of an international consul-tant we built capacity to under-take the task. Workshops were held over the year to train audi-tors, and after two trial audits with the help of the consultant we managed to have an audit with an all Seychellois team.

If Accreditation moved quickly we did not make as much prog-ress with validating qualifica-tions. Post-secondary institu-tions have had a lot of difficul-ties to meet SQA deadlines due to factors like the lack of capacity and resources. Regrettably by the end of the year there were no qualifica-tions which had reached the standard for the authority to award the status of full valida-tion. However it was clear towards the end of the year that some courses were not far off from the target.

Owing to efforts initiated by the SQA the National Institute of Health and social Science (NIHSS) went through the Commonwealth Review and Improvement (COLRIM) qual-ity assurance process which focuses on the institution being able to critically review its own performance with a view to improvement. In the final quar-ter of the year the Seychelles Institute of Management also started on the process.

We completed the Recognition

SQA achievements over 2011

of Prior Learning trials in carpentry and dental assisting and with expert help were able to review the exercises so as to better prepare for RPL in the future. Certainly the critical views of the participants in the review will help.

Until June 2011 a total of about 700 unit standards had been developed representing 30 courses. We have also devel-oped standards on demand for special courses such as librari-anship, and security officer work. Important work has been done in the support of the hair-dressing industry, assisting them to develop their associa-tion, setting standards for an advanced certificate in hair-dressing and conducting an RPL exercise for hairdressers who do not have the requisite qualifications.

From an international perspec-tive, the highpoints for the SQA over the last year has been its

SQA Sta�

participation in the SADC Tech-nical Committee for Certifica-tion and Accreditation (TCCA) and SADC Meeting for Senior Officials and Ministers. While the first concluded with general agreement on the SADC Regional Qualifications Frame-work, the latter saw the Minis-ters of Education giving their blessing to the SADC Frame-work as proposed. This is an exciting development for SQA and the Seychelles, equally as exciting as when the Transna-tional Qualifications Frame-work was agreed to some years earlier. For a small state like Seychelles it means that we have a tool by which we can measure our qualifications against, and this means that ultimately we can have recog-nition for Seychelles qualifica-tions regionally

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Course Validation Work-shop

A group of 11 education spe-cialists were inducted into the course validation exercise through a one day session on 14 October. They were taken through the NQF fundamen-tals, the Quality Assurance Policy, and case studies for programme validation. How-ever, nothing replaces hands on work with the real thing and many of the participants have already started to work on programmes submitted as part of validation sub-committees. The photograph shows some of the partici-pants in the workshop.

Education specialists are inducted into the validation exercise

theory, case studies, moderated discussion boards, virtual teamwork, webinars and work-based assign-ments.SQA is proud to announce that one of its Quality Assur-ance Officers, Ms Jill Tirant has followed and success-fully completed the PCQA programme during 2011. We extend our congratulations to Jill who completed the course in her own time during a year in which the SQA was in the thick of the validation and accreditation exercises. Jill also self-sponsored her studies.

In the news!!Capacity Building

The LH Martin Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Management, at the Univer-sity of Melbourne has since 2010 been running a post graduate certificate in quality assurance (PCQA). The course offers a com-prehensive academic programme for the training and professional development of quality assurance professionals. This one-year, part-time online graduate programme was developed in close consultation with the International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and is awarded by the University of Mel-bourne for professional recognition interna-tionally. Being a fully online programme, it offers maximum flexibility. Participants follow two compulsory modules after which they choose one of two electives. Programme staff are international experts in quality assurance and higher education policy and manage-ment. The programme features current state-of-the-art online teaching methodologies, supported by extensive programme resources. It offers integrated learning via

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Institutional AccreditationDuring the months of October and November, SQA conducted three institutional accreditation exercises. The institutions involved were: Sey-chelles Tourism Academy, Sey-chelles Agricultural and Horticultural Training Centre and, Maritime Train-ing Centre. All three have been given provisional accreditation status, which means they need to work on the recommendations made in the report within a timeframe set satis-factorily before they can get the accreditation status.

Validation of Qualifications

The SQA is pleased to announce the STA’s Advanced Diploma in Hospitality Manage-ment (ADHM) is the first programme to be validated, and registered on the National Qualifications Framework. The SQA would like to congratulate the STA ADHM team for this achievement. Other post-secondary insti-tutions now have an example that they can emulate.

Standards development Following further research in the area of standards, the SQA has found it necessary to review its stan-dards especially in the way of writing performance criteria. Local standards will now take on a more international perspective as this will facilitate regional and international standardisation and compara-bility with other qualifications frameworks.

STA sta� attentively listening during the debrie�ng session

Mr. Dora presents Validation Certi�cate to the Principal of STA

In the news!!

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1. RPL stands for: ________of Prior Learning.2. NQF stands for: National Qualifications ________3. NQF is represented by the Qualifications ________4. SQA’s main focus is to protect L________5. The process which states the level of foreign qualifications. 6. SQA motto reads: ________ your Competencies. 7. The SQA is mainly concerned with ________8. The three components needed for a programme of learning to be recognised by SQA are: (1) notional hours, (2) recognized provider and (3) ________9. The term refers to knowledge, skills, attitude gained in a particular field of learning.10. The term refers to the number of points a unit or module carries.11. The body that governs the SQA .

Crossword

Despite its nimble size SQA is also known to be a very dynamic organisation. In 2011 SQA also went through some changes in terms of its staff members. By the end of 2011 SQA said farewell to two of its staff including its driver Mr. Patrick Jean and Administration and Finance Manager Ms Gerina Charlette. At the same time it welcomed its new driver Mr. Paul Hetimier and new Administration and Finance Man-ager Ms Gemma Souris.

Mr. Patrick Jean Ms Gerina Charlette

Out going Staff...

...In coming Staff

Ms Gemma Souris Mr. Paul Hetimier

Staff Movement

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Contact usSeychelles Qualifications Authority

Mont Fleuri PO Box 1017

Tel: 248 4 324055Fax: 248 224102

Email: sqa@seychelles.net Visit us @: www.sqa.sc