Walter Sisulu University says its five courses that have come under the spotlight for not being accredited have since been revised and accredited after a registration issue was resolved.

In April higher education minister Blade Nzimande told parliament that the courses were unaccredited as the qualifications were not aligned with the revised Higher Education Qualifactions Sub-Framework (HEQSF) that all institutions needed to align to after 2019.

The affected courses were: advanced diploma in internal auditing, advanced diploma in journalism, BSc honours in zoology, master of medicine in obstetrics and gynaecology and the postgraduate diploma in chemical pathology. 

Nzimande, who was responding the DA’s questions on accredited courses at the university in the Eastern Cape, said the courses were a “continuations of legacy qualifications which were formally accredited as aligned to the Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF)”.

Nzimande said in 2013 that a revised policy was gazetted replacing HEQF and all higher education institutions had to align their legacy qualifications to it.

The university has since notified Sowetan that on May 17, after Nzimande had responded to parliamentary questions on the matter, the Council for Higher Education confirmed that the five qualifications were now accredited. A document from the council showed that all five courses were accredited.

“Whilst there was certainly an issue with the qualifications, it has since been resolved because the quality was not in question, but the issue was the correct registration with the regulator, which was resolved,” said WSU spokesperson Yonela Tukwayo.