CHE 2025 Higher Education Conference

CHE 2025 Higher Education Conference, themed The State of Quality of Higher Education in South Africa Three Decades into Democracy, took place from 26 - 28 February 2025 in Gauteng Province. 

CEA Research and Development colleagues attended and presented at the conference. 

Bridging Educational Divides: Strengthening the Quality of Student Preparation for Higher Education 

Tatiana Sango, Dr Karen Roux (University of Pretoria), Precious Mudavanhu and Sanet Steyn (Photograph captured after the presentation, 2025) led a panel discussion around different assessments that have a footprint in South Africa. 

The panel presentation focused on how assessment data can enhance student preparation for higher education by identifying key success indicators and areas for intervention early in the schooling phases. Panellists reflected on the alignment of various school-based, national, and international external assessments, such as the NSC, NBTs, PIRLS, and TIMMS, in evaluating student readiness for university. The discussion explored how assessment data can reveal patterns in student performance as early as Grade 6, which could help the educational sector design targeted support systems to ensure long-term impact. The session concluded with a strong message advocating for the use of assessment data to shape curricula and policies that better address the learning needs and aspirations of future HE students. 

Using Course Evaluation Practices to Enhance Curriculum Responsiveness: Creating a Framework and Developing a System 

Sanet Steyn and Precious Mudavanhu were also responsible for another presentation at this conference. Sanet presented the paper “Using Course Evaluation Practices to Enhance Curriculum Responsiveness: Creating a Framework and Developing a System” on behalf of the team working on the UCDG (2024-26) project 9 on course evaluation. Sanet heads up this team, and Precious was one of the co-authors along with Stephen Marquard, Cheng-Wen Huang, and Chevon Erispe. This paper was focused on the design of the project with an emphasis on the theoretical underpinnings of the methodology that is being used to develop the Course Evaluation Policy and Practices Framework for UCT. It highlighted the importance of ensuring that the mechanisms we use to collect course evaluation data provide us with meaningful results to support quality assurance and improve student support.