Accreditations and Memberships

Since becoming a Partner School of the American Hospitality Academy at the beginning of 2008, the Private Hotel School’s programmes have changed from Further Education and Training (FET) programmes to Higher Education and Training programmes (HET). The programmes are fully registered and accredited with the American Hospitality Academy and are offered and recognised throughout the world. According to Regulation 28 pertaining to the Higher Education and Training Act, Act 101 of 1997, the PHS can legally offer these programmes in South Africa and get recognition from the local industry for the programmes. Students are therefore able to find employment, not only internationally, but also in South Africa, with these excellent programmes.

However, to ensure that students do not only obtain an international qualification, but a qualification that prepares them fully for the local hospitality industry, the Private Hotel School has decided to adapt the international programmes by adding local content. The programmes were also thoroughly compared with all similar programmes offered in South Africa and adapted to give the PHS students, in addition to the international compatibility of the programmes, a programme that matches similar programmes on the same level in South Africa.

To get recognition for this programme, the Private Hotel School has applied to the Department of Education for registration as a Private Higher Education Institution and to the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) for accreditation of the programmes. We also applied for registration of the programmes to the South African Qualification Authority (SAQA).

Registration and accreditation through these bodies can take time and therefore the PHS will continue to offer the programmes of the American Hospitality Academy until such time we are able to offer the new registered and accredited programmes. However, that does not mean we offer only international content at present.

Even in the programmes of the American Hospitality Academy there is much scope to include local content. The academic faculty of the PHS are actively involved in the continuous improvement, renewal, revision and upgrading of the programmes of the American Hospitality Academy, as our industry is ever changing and evolving and we cannot give excellent education if we do not continuously adapt to the changes that take place in the industry.

We received communication from the CHE, the last hurdle in the process of registration and accreditation, on 15 December 2009. At the moment they cannot yet approve the accreditation as we have to split our qualification in two in order to provide an exit point after the first year of study. They also wanted more detailed information on our assessment policy, work based learning and certification process. They commented that our programme includes a significant amount of material. We are in the process to provide the CHE with the required information and hope that they will accredit the programme at their meeting in April.

Downloads

	File name	Size	Last changed
	Association of Private Providers.pdf	157 KB	02/12/2009 12:41
	SC CHE License.pdf	44,1 KB	02/12/2009 12:40