Architectural Profession Act, 2000 (Act No. 44 of 2000)RulesRules for Accreditation10. Accreditation Criteria (detail in Appendix A, B.1, B.2) |
| (a) | The accreditation system enables the SACAP to evaluate the quality and relevance of architectural qualifications and the standard of achievement and competence of graduates of ALSs at higher education institutions. The priority of the SACAP is to benchmark architectural qualifications against the SACAP competencies (Appendix A) as the main criteria for accreditation. |
| (b) | The SACAP competencies are a description of the required knowledge and skills and application required of architectural professionals. To this end, all application and accreditation documentation prepared by an ALS should identify how the SACAP competencies and standards are being met within the curriculum, pedagogic approach and assessment practices of the ALS. In reviewing the work of students, the lowest qualifying standards for graduation are of greatest concern. |
| (c) | It is the ALSs’ obligation to provide evidence that the accreditation criteria are being satisfied. The ALS must therefore complete and forward all required documentation and supporting evidence, make available specified material, including accessible links to hybrid and online programmes and systems, prior to the accreditation and respond to requests for supplementary information before and during the accreditation. |
| (d) | Documentation in accordance with the requirements must be submitted to SACAP within the prescribed time before the accreditation. Should the ALS not submit documentation timeously, the accreditation may be cancelled if there are no justifiable reasons for failure to submit required documents. |
| (e) | Evidence or information supplied after the evaluation will not be considered by the Accreditation Board. |
| (f) | Should relevant information not be provided, the Accreditation Board may report that certain evidence was unavailable and that compliance of the programme with one or more criteria could not be verified. Such a programme will be treated as deficient, and accreditation may, at best, be granted for a limited period with a revisit required. These aspects are set out on the evaluation matrix (Appendix B.1) and the subject/module/unit review template (Appendix B.2). |