THE Namibia Quality Authority (NQA) has cautioned students to watch out for unaccredited institutions.
Accreditation refers to confirmation by the NQA that an institution has the capacity to provide specified courses and assess the performance of persons enrolled in such courses.
This comes at a time most grade 11 and 12 pupils are looking for placements at institutions of higher learning.
According to the authority’s spokesperson, Catherine Shipushu, in a statement on Tuesday, it is not possible to validate the qualifications of an unaccredited institution due to the fact that these institutions have not been quality assured.
Thus the employability of graduates from such institutions is impossible.
Shipushu further said an institution can be accredited but it might offer courses that are not quality assured.
Therefore registering to these institutions would mean funds and time wasted into a qualification that holds no value.
She said the NQA offers a free service to assist prospective students and funding institutions to verify the accreditation status of any institution or course anywhere in the world.
The process takes a maximum of seven working days and the public can download the request for accreditation status of an institution form from their website and email it to advice@namqa.org.
There is a compiled list of all accredited Namibian institutions and the courses they are authorised to offer, which is available on its website.
Shipushu said all unaccredited institutions are urged to apply for accreditation in order for their programmes to be recognised.
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