HIGHER EDUCATION

• A draft policy on the recognition of higher education institutional types has been gazetted for public comment. According to a Department of Higher Education and Training media statement, once operationalised the proposed new policy will:
  • ‘fulfil ... aspirations set out in the founding objectives of higher education in South Africa’ by:
    • promoting the ‘diversification of access, curriculum and qualification structure, with programmes developed and articulated within the National Qualifications Framework’, and
    • ‘encouraging an open and flexible system based on credit accumulation and multiple entry and exit points for learners, thus permitting greater horizontal and vertical mobility by learners in the higher education system’, and
  • promote the development of ‘an articulated flexible learning system, with a diversity of institutional missions and programme mixes, thus
  • improving ‘the responsiveness of the higher education system to ... present and future social and economic needs’.

 

JUSTICE

• The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has extended its list of ex officio commissioners of oaths to include certain South African Insurance Crime Bureau functionaries.

 

HOME AFFAIRS

• Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has issued a media statement announcing that:
  • new and renewed passports should now be collected in person from the office through which the application was made, and that
  • this is the first of three steps planned with the intention of securing the integrity of South African passports and curbing their ‘fraudulent acquisition’.

 

CAPTIVE LIONS

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment intends establishing an advisory committee to:
  • identify ‘voluntary exit options and pathways from the captive lion industry’, and
  • monitor and oversee their implementation.
• With that in mind, a notice has been gazetted calling for nominees from specific areas of expertise to be considered as appointees.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby