Assessment of the Impact of the Deployment of Manual Accreditation Application Systems by Sector Education and Training Authorities Government Agency on Skills Development Providers

Systematic assessment and continuous improvement of the accreditation application systems used for the endorsement of Skills Development Providers (SDPs) in South Africa is vital towards ensuring sustainable skills development programme in the country. SDPs experience myriads of challenges during their accreditation journey with the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) government agency. In view of this, this paper systematically analyses the impact of the usage of manual accreditation application system and recommend solutions tailored towards mitigating the impact of manual accreditation applications that result in long waiting periods for South African SDPs. This paper discusses growing concerns on SDPs’ inability to deliver skills development training in periods while awaiting their accreditation application status. Part of the approach discussed in this paper is the recommendation to use an automated accreditation application system, considering all quality aspects involved in the evaluations.