COUNCIL ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHE)

CHE has been established by an act of Parliament – Higher Education Act of 2004. It is a body corporate that has been assigned the following functions:

• Monitor implementation of the policy on higher education;
• Publish information regarding developments in higher education on a regular basis;
• Promote access of students to higher education institutions;
• Advise the Minister of Education and Training on any aspect of higher education;
• Promote quality assurance in higher education;
• Audit the quality assurance mechanisms of higher education institutions;
• Accredit programmes and issue a certificate of accreditation of higher education
• Monitor and evaluate the performance of academic programmes and higher education institutions
• Perform any other function that is conferred on or assigned to it in terms of this Act or delegated or assigned to it by the Minister.

CHE advises the Minister of Education and Training on the following areas, among others:

• Quality promotion and quality assurance;
• Teaching and research;
• The structure and planning of the higher education system;
• A mechanism for the allocation of public funds;
• Appropriate incentives or imposition of sanctions such as diminution or withdrawal of government funding, downgrading, termination of a programme, or even closure of an institution;
• Student bursaries; and
• Governance of the higher education institutions and higher education systems.