Umalusi, the Quality Council in General and Further Education and Training, has approved the release of the April 2021 NATED Report 190/191: Engineering Studies N2N3 examinations administered by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). Engineering Studies N2-N3 is offered at TVET and private colleges.
According to the reports received from the DHET, the April 2021 NATED Report 190/191: Engineering Studies N2-N3 Examinations were conducted from 1 April 2021 to 23 April 2021 at 383 examination centres for 124 417 instructional offering entries. Umalusi has noted that a total of 51 720 candidates wrote the April 2021 Engineering Studies examinations – 26 986 (52,2%) on N2 and 24 734 (47,8%) on N3 level. A total of 55 subjects (instructional offerings) were presented to the Assessment Standards Committee of Umalusi Council for standardisation on 17 May 2021.
At its meeting on 19 May 2021, the Executive Committee (EXCO) of Umalusi Council released the following approval statement:
“Having studied all the evidence presented, the Executive Committee (EXCO) of Umalusi noted the challenges of non-submission of ICASS evidence by some centres and alleged isolated irregularities identified during monitoring of writing and marking of examinations. However, EXCO is satisfied that there were no systemic irregularities reported that might have compromised the overall credibility and integrity of the April 2021 NATED Report 190/191 Engineering Studies N2-N3 examinations administered by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).
The Executive Committee of Council approves the release of the DHET April 2021 NATED Report 190/191: Engineering Studies N2-N3 examination results based on available evidence that the examinations were administered in accordance with the examination policies and guidelines.
The DHET is required to:
• Block the results of candidates/instructional offerings of three centres involved in non-compliance to ICASS instructions pending the outcome of further investigations by the DHET and verification by Umalusi;
• Block the results of candidates and instructional offerings of centres implicated in irregularities as indicated in Annexure E of the DHET report on the April 2021 Report 190/191 Examinations Irregularities and Incidents pending the outcome of further DHET investigations and verification by Umalusi;
• Address the high incidents of irregularities at private colleges;
• Take drastic measures against the private colleges implicated in irregularities and submit a full report to Umalusi; and
• Address the directives for compliance and improvement highlighted in the Quality Assurance of Assessment report.
The Executive Committee of Council commends the DHET for conducting a successful examination despite challenges presented by COVID-19.”
The CEO of Umalusi, Dr Mafu Rakometsi, had the following to say about the outcome of the approval of the NATED N2-N3 results, “Despite the constraints imposed on our work by COVID-19, we will continue to strive for excellence in carrying out our quality assurance of assessment mandate. To this end, we thank DHET officials for cooperating with Umalusi officials to ensure the credibility of the results.”
Source: Government of South Africa