THE SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL

for the
QUANTITY SURVEYING PROFESSION
Established in terms of the Quantity Surveying Profession Act 49 of 2000

January 2014

ANNUAL PROGRAMME THRESHOLD STANDARDS REPORTING

1. Introduction.
The annual reporting of threshold standards is important to ensure consistency and the
application of standards countrywide, and is a way of reducing the reporting of data and
ensuring that the focus is on generic aims of the SACQSP to:
 Ensure respected standards of student selection on SACQSP accredited
programmes
 Ensure that all students enjoy the highest quality teaching environment
 Ensure that all students are exposed to the most innovative ideas while being taught
 Ensure that the curriculum is highly relevant to professional practice
 Ensure that SACQSP has access to high calibre graduate output

The threshold standards for South Africa closely match these objectives and together form
the foundation for the mutual elevation of the status of the profession and a vision of high
quality education internationally.

This guidance note is provided to help you to present your annual data, establishing what is
required within the timetable and offering advice on the detail.

2. Timetable for reporting threshold data

K2
The information required in your annual threshold report is:

 (120 credit ‘Higher Certificate’ level programmes) The entry National Senior
Certificate (NSC) points for each student in that year for each accredited programme.
 (360 credit ‘Diploma’ entry level programme) The entry National Senior Certificate
(NSC) points for each student in that year for each accredited programme.
 (120 credit ‘Advanced Diploma’ level programmes) The relevant qualifications and
any associated acceptance criteria data at entry level for each student in that year for
each accredited programme.
 (360 and 480 credit ‘Bachelors’ entry level undergraduate programmes courses) The
entry National Senior Certificate (NSC) points for each student in that year for each
accredited programme.
 (120 credit ‘Honours’ level programmes) The relevant qualifications and any
associated acceptance criteria data at entry level for each student in that year for
each accredited programme.

Unit C27, Lone Creek, Corner Mac Mac Road & Howick Place, Waterfall Park, Bekker Road, Vorna Valley Ext 21,
MIDRAND 1682
P O Box 654, HALFWAY HOUSE, 1685
Tel: 011 312-2560/1 Fax: 011 312-2562 E-mail: registrar@sacqsp.co.za
Website: http://www.sacqsp.org.za
  (Postgraduate programmes) The relevant qualifications for each student in that year
for each accredited programme.
 The research output from the previous year with supporting evidence to include:
- the complete research output table with corresponding evidence of research
outputs
- the number of research graduates (research Masters and Doctoral graduates
and taught Masters graduates are to be excluded)
- research funding information
- departmental NRF ratings for each staff member.
 The list of graduates with details on their employment from the previous year for each
accredited programme.

The timetable for submitting your annual threshold data 2014 is as follows:
 The reminder for your annual threshold report is sent to you by the end of March
2014.
 Deadline for submitting data is 30th April 2014.

After the deadline, if a university has failed to provide the report for any programme or if the
threshold standard has not been met for any programme then the programme may be
removed from the list of accredited programmes. The university will be advised of the appeal
process and given 14 days in which to lodge an appeal.

3. Entry data

120 credit ‘Higher Certificate’: NQF Exit Level 5 programmes

For each accredited programme a list of the intake should be provided with a breakdown of
the individual NSC points. A National Senior Certificate with appropriate subject
combinations and levels of achievement is required for entry.

360 credit ‘Diploma’: NQF Exit Level 6 programmes

For each accredited undergraduate programme a list of the intake should be provided with a
break-down of the individual NSC points. 75% of first year entrants must have 23 un-
weighted NSC points in accordance with the DHE table (scores for Life Orientation and
Mathematics Literacy cannot be included):

120 credit ‘Advanced Diploma’: NQF Exit Level 7 programmes

For each accredited undergraduate programme a list of the intake should be provided with a
break-down of the individual entry qualification. All entrants to ‘Advanced Diploma’ level
programmes must have completed an appropriate ‘Diploma’ level programme. Where a
university applies a qualifying performance standard for entry to their programme, full details
of the standards applied should be provided, together with a breakdown of the individual
performance criteria.

360 credit (NQF Exit Level 7) and 480 credit (NQF Exit Level 8) ‘Bachelors’ / Bachelor
Honours programmes
For each accredited undergraduate programme a list of the intake should be provided with a
break-down of the individual NSC points. 75% of first year entrants must have 29 un-
weighted NSC points in accordance with the DHE table (scores for Life Orientation and
Mathematics Literacy cannot be included):

Unit C27, Lone Creek, Corner Mac Mac Road & Howick Place, Waterfall Park, Bekker Road, Vorna Valley Ext 21,
MIDRAND 1682
P O Box 654, HALFWAY HOUSE, 1685
Tel: 011 312-2560/1 Fax: 011 312-2562 E-mail: registrar@sacqsp.co.za
Website: http://www.sacqsp.org.za
120 credit ‘Bachelor Honours’: NQF Exit Level 8 programmes
All entrants to ‘Honours’ level programmes must have completed an appropriate ‘Bachelors’
level programme. Where a university applies a qualifying performance standard for entry to
their programme, full details of the standards applied should be provided, together with a
breakdown of the individual performance criteria.

120 credit ‘Master’s’: NQF Exit Level 9 programmes

75% of first year entrants to postgraduate programmes must have completed either a four-
year undergraduate degree or Honours degree. A list of the intake should be provided with a
break-down of their entrance qualifications.

For qualifications other than the NSC, please give as much detail as possible. If the
qualification has been calibrated against the NSC, please give the rationale for this
calibration

4. Advanced entry
You may have some students who gain entry at an advanced level, most commonly into the
second year of an undergraduate programme. It is important that these are included within
any data provided and you have a choice in how you present this additional information.

Either:
You can choose to combine all entrants in a given year as one cohort regardless of their
entry level. Therefore, those students given advanced entry to a programme in 2014 who are
not excluded from the calculation can be added to the first year cohort for 2014 to calculate
the entry standard.
or:
You can choose to operate a recalculation system. In this case, you must recalculate the
entry data each time you award advanced entry. For example, if you awarded advanced
entry onto the second year of the 2013 cohort, then in 2014 you would need to present the
original 2013 entry data again.

We need to know the qualification that may have given the student advanced entry.
However, any such qualification cannot be included when calculating the candidate’s first
year entry score. It would be helpful if you could use the same reference for each student in
subsequent year’s returns. We do not require you to name the student. Their university
student number would be an ideal reference number to use.

5. Research standard
The aim of this standard is to ensure that students are exposed to innovative ideas whilst
being taught, although it can also be applied to all of the generic aims of partnership.
University departments must achieve a rating of 0.8 per full time academic staff member,
calculated as a rolling average over three years, in accordance with the following:

Schedule of Weightings for Research Outputs

University departments delivering a SACQSP accredited programme will be expected to
achieve an average annual output rating (per full time academic staff member), according
to the appropriate NQF Level of their qualification, in accordance with the following table:

Research Activity Number Weighting Total

DoE Subsidy Earning Accredited Articles 1.0
Non-Subsidy Earning Intl Peer Reviewed Articles * 1.0
Unit C27, Lone Creek, Corner Mac Mac Road & Howick Place, Waterfall Park, Bekker Road, Vorna Valley Ext 21,
MIDRAND 1682
P O Box 654, HALFWAY HOUSE, 1685
Tel: 011 312-2560/1 Fax: 011 312-2562 E-mail: registrar@sacqsp.co.za
Website: http://www.sacqsp.org.za
Int’l Peer Reviewed Books * 4.5
Int’l Peer Reviewed Chapters in Books * 1.0
Published RSA Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings 0.5
Published Int’l Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings * 0.5
Abstracts in Proceedings of International Conference Nil
Other (e.g. trade journals and course manuals) Nil
Patents 1.0
Total . A

A = total score.

N = full time academic members of staff (excluding vacancies) in department

Standard of Research Output = Total Score (A) / full time academic staff

Minimum required - 360 credit Diploma qualification ≥ 0.6

- 120 Advanced Diploma ≥ 0.8
- 360 Bachelors or Bachelor’s Honours ≥ 0.8
- 120 Bachelors Honours ≥ 0.8
- 120 Master’s ≥ 0.8

NB: The primary purpose of calling for a ‘Research Output’ threshold is to encourage staff at
all South African tertiary institutions to undertake research, which is then embodied within
taught modules.

Where University departments use academic members of staff on more than 1 programme,
the department is required to indicate their proportional utilization on each programme,
based on their teaching loads, or other method of apportionment which may be offered by
the department for acceptance by the SACQSP. Separate calculations should be submitted
for each programme, clearly indicating the proportional staff allocations

* International Research outputs are subject to the SACQSP ESR Committee review

Each year we would expect to see the previous three years calculations.

Supporting evidence must also be provided that details the authors, title of research, the
publisher and the dates. This should be in the same format as provided for academic
articles.

To establish alternative research measures which may more appropriately reflect your
research standards, and to contextualise your research output, please provide within your
submission the following additional information:
 the number of research graduates (i.e. research Masters and Doctoral graduates.
Note that taught Masters graduates are to be excluded)
 research funding from the previous year
 departmental NRF ratings for each staff member where applicable

Unit C27, Lone Creek, Corner Mac Mac Road & Howick Place, Waterfall Park, Bekker Road, Vorna Valley Ext 21,
MIDRAND 1682
P O Box 654, HALFWAY HOUSE, 1685
Tel: 011 312-2560/1 Fax: 011 312-2562 E-mail: registrar@sacqsp.co.za
Website: http://www.sacqsp.org.za
6. Employability
We need a list of the employment destination (or otherwise e.g. travelling) of all 2012
graduates. This applies to graduates from both undergraduate and postgraduate
programmes. If possible please provide the name of the graduate, the employer, job title
and job descriptor. If they are not employed, what they are doing? If you do not know their
destination then put 'not known'. (SACQSP expects at least 50% of destinations should be
known.) Any graduate continuing into higher education is considered compliant for the
purposes of the employability calculation.

Give as much detail as possible

An employer’s name and/or job title sometimes is not enough to show if the graduate is in
relevant employment. For example, they may work for a supermarket but do they work in the
estates department or on the checkout? In such a case, please give more details.

Data collecting system

You may need to establish an alternative system so you can get the data to us in time. The
data is due by 30th June 2014. Of course, you may have already met the threshold standard
earlier, in which case you should submit your annual return at the earliest opportunity.

Part-time students
Even if it is a requirement that part-time students must be in relevant employment to be on
the course, you should still list their employment at the point of graduation.

Low numbers
For courses with few graduates, the percentage employability can be rounded up to 60% if it
is near enough that one more positive employment destination would raise the percentage
above 60%. For example, if there are six graduates, only three graduates (i.e. 50%) need be
in relevant employment, rather than four (66%).

Minimum reporting
We would normally expect a minimum of 50% of the graduates to be reported on.

7. SACQSP Accredited Programme – HOD Meeting

HOD meetings sponsored by the SACQSP are held annually mid-year and organised jointly
by the office of the Registrar and SACQSP Education Standards and Research Committee.
The SACQSP will bear the travel cost and one night accommodation for one representative
per educational institution at a venue arranged by the SACQSP.
Subjects to be covered;
 The SACQSP unit standards
 Programme accreditation
 Continued compliance
 Changes to routes to PrQS Registration

Regards

Steven Lyons
Registrar

Unit C27, Lone Creek, Corner Mac Mac Road & Howick Place, Waterfall Park, Bekker Road, Vorna Valley Ext 21,
MIDRAND 1682
P O Box 654, HALFWAY HOUSE, 1685
Tel: 011 312-2560/1 Fax: 011 312-2562 E-mail: registrar@sacqsp.co.za
Website: http://www.sacqsp.org.za