BusinessLive reports that the state agency tasked with the verification and evaluation of local and foreign academic qualifications has been forced to operate at limited capacity due to funding constraints.

This could leave thousands of prospective students and employees in limbo. Students with foreign qualifications who want to pursue their studies in SA need to have their qualifications verified and evaluated by the SA Qualifications Authority (Saqa). A private company or government department that wants to check the authenticity of a prospective employee’s academic qualifications also has to approach Saqa. The organisation, which falls under the Department of Higher Education, Science & Innovation, recently had to offload more than a third of its 170 employees. This was amid a cash crunch caused by the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown and a cut in government funding after the state diverted funds away from departments to SA Airways in a bid to resuscitate the ailing national carrier. Saqa said it faced closure if it had not acted to reduce its personnel costs. “Due to the recent retrenchments and the transitional period we are going through, we anticipate some delays in processing applications,” Saqa CEO Julie Reddy advised. Saqa has also informed applicants through its website about the expected delays. Under normal circumstances, the turnaround time to verify local qualifications is between one working day and 20 days. The turnaround time for processing applications for evaluation of foreign qualifications is between 15 working days and three months.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bekezela Phakathi at BusinessLive

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