« Back | Home » Qualifications Guide

• Credits for qualifications through recogised training insitutions,

• Recognition of prior learning (RPL) - assessments of accumilated working knowledge that may have been aquired formally or informally

  Flexibility of Qualifications
  
  Each registered qualification comprises numerous building blocks of learning or ‘unit standards’. These units can be carried across as credits towards partial completion of other, different qualifications should you at some stage choose to change career paths or diversify your field of expertise, therefore ensuring greater employability. This system is referred to as ‘portability of unit standards’.   The purpose of the NQF is to clearly indicate the level of knowledge of a learner.

   

  Qualifications and unit standards are registered at the specified level of the NQF with a number of credits allocated to them. This means that a learner could accumulate credits for successful completed unit standards towards a qualification making learning more flexible to meet learner needs.
  
    The NQF consist of three bands: 
  
  1. General Education and Training

   

  NQF Level	Band	Qualification Type
  1	General    Education and Training	National certifcates(ABET)

  
  General Education and Training runs from grade 0 to grade 9. Under the South African Schools Act of 1996, education is compulsory for all South Africans from age 7 (grade 1) to age 15, or the completion of grade 9. General Education and Training also includes Adult Basic Education and Training.
  
  2. Further Education and Training

  (levels 2 – 4: grade 10 – 12)

   

  NQF Level	Band	Qualification Type
  4 3 2	Further Education and Training	National Certifcates (FETC)

  
  
   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Further Education and Training takes place from grades 10 to 12, and also includes career-oriented education and training offered in other Further Education and Training institutions - technical colleges, community colleges and private colleges. Diplomas and certificates are qualifications recognised at this level.
  
  3. Higher Education (HET: levels 5 – 8)

   

  NQF Level	Band	Qualification Type
  8 7 6 5	Higher Education and Training	Post-doctoral research degrees Doctorates Masters degrees Professional Qualifications Honours degrees National first degrees Higher diplomas National diplomas National certificates

  
  
   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Higher Education and Training, or tertiary education, includes education for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, certificates and diplomas, up to the level of the doctoral degree.
  
  A matric endorsement is required for the study of university degrees, with a minimum of three subjects passed at the higher, rather than standard, grade, although some universities set additional academic requirements. A standard school-leaving South African senior certificate is sufficient for technical qualifications and diplomas.
  
  For more information about South African Education, visit:
  
  http://www.southafrica.info/about/education/education.htm