LLB NATIONAL REVIEW: REVISED REACCREDITATION OUTCOMES

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LLB NATIONAL REVIEW: REVISED REACCREDITATION OUTCOMES
LLB NATIONAL REVIEW: REVISED REACCREDITATION OUTCOMES


The Council on Higher Education (CHE) on Wednesday, 15 November 2017, released its revised reaccreditation outcomes concerning the Higher Education Quality Committee’s (HEQC’s) National Review of LLB Programmes. Rhodes’s LLB has been reaccredited, subject to meeting one specific condition, on which it must report to the CHE by 10 May 2018.
In 2015/16, the CHE undertook a national review of the LLB programme across all 17 public institutions that offer the LLB. In April 2017, Rhodes University’s LLB programme was reaccredited, subject to meeting two specific conditions, and that it consider certain recommendations of the CHE’s review panel. The CHE called for the submission of improvement plans with respect to these conditions and recommendations.
Rhodes submitted a 78-page Institutional Improvement Plan to the CHE on 6 October 2017, supported by extensive documentary evidence.
The CHE Review Committee complimented the Faculty for its Improvement Plan, noting in its report
“that the Improvement Plan has been compiled after appropriate consultation with all constituencies in the Faculty, as well as the relevant University stakeholders and role players. A comprehensive IP and clear demonstration of leadership and involvement of institution to the process is commendable. The response from the university shows commitment to address all concerns stated in the HEQC report.”
The Faculty was acknowledged for its efforts in improving staff diversity, and the CHE Review Committee found that the Faculty’s plan satisfied the condition in regard to this issue set down in April 2017.
In all academic respects, the CHE has found that the Faculty’s LLB programme meets the requirements of the National LLB Standard established in terms of the Higher Education Quality Committee’s programme accreditation criteria.
The one condition that remains is a matter of structure: the way in which the Faculty intends to admit first-year students to its LLB programme, as the CHE has mandated in the conditions set in April. The Faculty had proposed to the CHE a revised blended admissions policy, which will see the introduction of a limited first-year LLB admissions stream to operate in conjunction with current admission access points. The Faculty remains committed to engaging with the CHE, as well as the University and its Institutional Planning Office, in regard to this matter between now and May 2018.
Since the Faculty’s LLB has been reaccredited subject to this one condition, students and parents are reassured that Rhodes’s current LLB offering is in no way affected, and Rhodes will continue to offer the LLB as a degree programme in 2018.


20 November 2017