Organisation of the programme-based academy

Abstract

With the emphasis on programmes in South African policy on higher education there is an imperative for institutions to grapple with the programme-based approach as a practical and organisational question. This article is based on policy inputs that have been made from the Academic Planning Unit at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). The article emphasises the role of faculties in programme development and offers suggestions concerning the re-engineering of faculties for collaboration across disciplinary and departmental boundaries. In particular it advocates a certain accommodation between academic and financial planning. These various recommendations are, however, made in the light of certain critiques of the idea of programme-based higher education that have already appeared since the SAQA Act (1995) and the Education White Paper: A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education Transformation (1997).


South African Journal of Higher Education Vol.16(2) 2002: 205-212