The Independent Institute of Education (The IIE), SA’s leading private higher education institution and a division of JSE-listed ADvTECH, has received full accreditation from the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) – the first private higher education provider in the country to be recognised in this manner by the industry authority.
All Engineering degrees in South Africa must be offered with the approval of the ECSA. The IIE has been offering ECSA endorsed Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng) degrees since 2018. During the initial development stages and in the first years of offering these degrees, ECSA conducted various site visits and reviews of The IIE’s B.Eng Degrees, to ensure that the qualifications adhere to best practice and to national and international standards for Engineering.
Full accreditation has now been awarded for The IIE’s B.Eng Degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and in Mechanical Engineering.
“This milestone is truly significant as The IIE becomes the first private higher education institution in Africa to receive full accreditation for Engineering degrees under the international Washington Accord,” says Louise Wiseman, Managing Director of The IIE’s Varsity College, Vega & IIE MSA.
Private higher education institutions in South Africa may not, at present, call themselves private Universities due to historic criteria. However the Department of Higher Education and Training is in the process of finalising criteria for institutions with the aim of ensuring that qualifying private higher education institutions may rightly be recognised as private universities (as opposed to state funded public universities).
“This latest recognition re-affirms that The IIE is uniquely positioned in the private sector to provide the highest quality of academic excellence, while ensuring our qualifications and students are deservedly recognised – in line with their peers in public universities – in the industry and the workplace,” she says.
