Student Involvement and Empowerment in Quality Assurance in Distance Education in South Africa

Overview & Synopsis

This article attempts to explore why and how student involvement is a necessary, but under-developed and under-utilised strategy for enhancing quality distance education in South Africa. Any critical analysis of education in South Africa needs to consider the historical and current social contexts, and in this case the analysis needs to explain the circumstances and social forces responsible for the timing, method and approach in which quality assurance in higher education, and specifically distance higher education in South Africa developed. The article then focuses on why the distance education sector places such a premium on quality assurance and why quality assurance in distance education relies on learner involvement and empowerment as a way of building the new democracy.