Always ask the following 3 questions and verify the answers.

1.) Is the Institution Registered with the Department of Education?

Why is this important?
This indicates that the College or Training Institution is operating legally in South Africa.

How do I verify this?
The institution must display the official registration certificate from the DOE where any student may inspect it for verification.
Alternatively you may go to the Department of Education's website and verify the institutions registration status online.

DOE Website

2.) Is the institution accredited by an Education and Training Quality Assurance Body(ETQA)?
Also called institutional accreditation.

Why is this important?
An accredited training provider went through a gruelling verification process by an ETQA to ensure that it can provide the quality of training and services to students as determined by SAQA.

What is an accredited ETQA?
An ETQA must be accredited by SAQA. A list of all the accredited ETQA's appears on SAQA's website at www.saqa.org.za

How do I verify this?
Visit the ETQA's website and verify the institution's name online. Alternatively you may call the ETQA directly.

What else is important?
If the training provider is offering full qualifications such as a National Certificate or National Diploma, then it MUST have institutional accreditation by either UMALUSI (Council for Quality Assurance in General and Futher Education and Training) or CHE (Council for Higher Education) or both.

SAQA Website
Umalusi Website
CHE Website

3.) Is the programme I want to do approved by an ETQA?

Why is this important?
Only approved or accredited qualifications are credit bearing. This will also mean that your qualification and credits will be uploaded onto the National Learner Database (NLRD).

How do I verify this?
training provider is issued with a letter and/or certificate from the ETQA indicating each programme that is approved.

What else is important?
An ETQA can only approve the programmes that falls within its scope. This means that if a provider offers different types of programmes it must have programme approval from the relevant ETQA's.

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