October 2025 is set to be an important month for quality assurance (QA) in Southern Africa’s higher education sector. SARUA will be working with regional and international partners to host two significant training workshops: the University of Potsdam-led TrainIQA programme in Cape Town and the UNESCO ROSA-led initiative in Eswatini.
Both events are designed with a clear purpose – to strengthen institutional capacity, encourage collaboration across borders and give QA practitioners the knowledge and tools to bring lasting change in their universities. At a time when higher education is embracing new frameworks and fast-paced innovation, these workshops provide space for reflection, shared learning and collective action.
TrainIQA workshop: Cape Town, 6–10 October 2025
The TrainIQA programme gets underway at the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town. This is the first of three linked workshops that will run over the year. The week will be split into a three-day training workshop followed by a two-day conference.
Thirty QA practitioners from higher education institutions across the SADC have been selected to take part, and their senior managers will join the conference. Topics on the agenda include internal QA and QM systems, research methodology in QA, survey design, leadership in QA and higher education management, AI and its impact on higher education, and leadership support for institutional change projects.
The SADC chapter of TrainIQA is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Rectors Conference (HRK) and the University of Potsdam
UNESCO ROSA workshop: Eswatini, 21–22 October 2025
Later in the month, QA practitioners from Eswatini and Lesotho will gather in Manzini for the UNESCO ROSA Workshop. Over two days, the focus will be on the foundations of QA, assessment methods, curriculum design and development, regional and international frameworks, recognition of qualifications and QA in digital transformation.
Driving change across the region
Together, these workshops are more than training sessions. They are part of a wider effort to strengthen and connect QA systems across the continent. They tie in with regional and continental frameworks such as the Pan African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Framework, the SADC Qualifications Framework and the African Union’s harmonisation agenda through the HAQAA initiative.
By combining targeted capacity building with peer learning and curriculum innovation, the workshops support the African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ASG-QA). They also encourage mutual recognition of qualifications, build institutional maturity across the SADC region and bring Education for Sustainable Development principles into QA practice.
In doing so, they help advance the goals of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa and Agenda 2063 – and reflect SARUA’s commitment to building a stronger, more sustainable and inclusive higher education community.
