Quality Promotion Unit
The Quality Promotion Unit plays a vital role in ensuring excellence and consistency in our organization’s processes and services.
About the The Quality Promotion Unit
The quality assurance system of Vaal University of Technology (VUT) was developed into a system aligned to the requirements of the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) and is underpinned by the systems theory and the philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM) with a strong emphasis on the notion of customer satisfaction and continuous quality improvement. VUT embraces the international common approach to the assessment of quality at an institution of higher learning through self-evaluation exercises and external peer reviews.
Vision
Learning and innovation
for a digitally smart and sustainable
industrial progress and
socio-economic transformation
Mission
To develop, implement and maintain an effective quality assurance system (processes, procedures, structure, mechanisms, etc.) that will enhance continuous improvement and customer satisfaction of all services and activities of its mandatory framework
Policy Statement
VUTs Quality Assurance Policy is developed against a national transformative agenda of the country. It aligns itself to the requirements as outlined in the HEQC criteria document for the delivery of quality education in South Africa.
Quality Reviews
The review of the support/departments/units/programmes is based on the institution’s perception of quality, namely customer satisfaction (addressing the needs of internal and external customers) and the department’s/unit’s perception of the concept. Reviews are regarded as ‘health checks” and opportunities to gather the information into quality plans.
All faculties with their respective departments and support functions are reviewed within a 3-4 year cycle by means of a self-evaluation and external validation exercise. All reviews are conducted against a set of minimum standards that are on par with the HEQC requirements
The outcome of the self-evaluation exercise is captured in a portfolio (Self-Evaluation Report). An external monitoring exercise (cycle two – peer review) follows cycle one. The primary purpose of the peer review is to verify the outcome of the self-evaluation exercise. The review process is followed by a remedial action process (adjustment, re-alignment, etc.) and planning. The external validation team submits an audit report to the institution. The outcome of the reviews is utilized to do adequate planning as the first phase of the helix of continuous improvement.
Due to the Covid-19 protocols, the QPU had to adapt all its reviews to the Desktop evaluations. All the evidence and other documentation were provided to the peer reviewers electronically.
Continuous Quality Improvement
The quality system embraces the concept of continuous improvement which is underpinned by the systems theory approach. The notion of continuous quality improvement is a systematic and implies an institution-wide approach for continually improving all processes that deliver quality services to support the core activities of the university.
The system has a strong stakeholder focus. It regards the staff and students of the university as the primary stakeholders and a range of external entities as secondary stakeholders. VUTs quality system is based on the continuous improvement model of Plan-Implement-Review-Improve (PIRI). This model is an adapted model from Deming’s PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) and Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) models. The continuous improvement model implies that appropriate objectives should be set during planning, that plans should be implemented to achieve the objectives, that the implementation of plans implies continuous measuring/reviews and finally that certain adjustments should be made in order to achieve the objectives set, which results in adjustments and eventually, improvement.
Based on Demings Model: PDSA _ PIRI cycle of continuous improvement
The following are characteristic of the quality assurance system of VUT:
Customer or stakeholder focused: Students and staff are regarded as internal stakeholders and external stakeholders are regarded as professional bodies, parents, industry, government, HEQC, DoHET and so forth.
Fitness for and of purpose: The quality assurance system ensures the realization of the national demands and legislative requirements for VUT (fitness of purpose) as well as the realization of the vision and mission of VUT (fitness for purpose).
Culture for quality: In order to achieve a culture for quality, the management, staff and students should take
Developmental approach:All quality related activities follow a developmental and not a punitive approach.
