Accreditation: The act of certifying an educational institution or program as meeting all official formal requirements of academic excellence, facilities, curriculum, etc.
The joys of bureaucracy
We all have horror stories about dealing with government departments. My current gripe is with the Office of the President. (When I asked yesterday how I can escalate their lack of action, the woman told me to phone the Presidential Hotline. She didn't seem to know that she had just answered my call to the Presidential Hotline.)
My original choice for the word of the week was kakistocracy. It means a system of government that is run by the worst or least qualified citizens.
I didn't use it because I didn't want you to think I was swearing in Afrikaans. According to Wikipedia, this word dates back to the 17th century. It comes from two Greek words: kakistos meaning "worst" and kratos meaning "rule". So I'm not being rude.
Introducing MICT
Today's story is relevant to us as South African developers and learning specialists. It may also explain why I get a little edgy when asked about accreditation.
The MICT SETA is the Sector Education Training Authority for the ICT sector in South Africa. It describes its vision as follows: "A global leader in the development and delivery of revolutionary ICT skills."
I am responsible for our biennual re-accreditation with MICT. It is a useless and frustrating exercise, for many reasons. Why do I do it? Either your company hopes to get an SDL tax refund for sending you on training, or someone in your HR department thinks it is meaningful.
Revolutionary ICT skills?
Before our accreditation expired last year, I started the process of re-accreditation. MICT now has an online system where I can apply and upload the documents. (In the past, I had to deliver a CD to their offices. USB drives were not permitted, allegedly because of the risk of theft by their own staff.) The system is badly designed, but if you've ever used their Skills-Web system, that was to be expected.
I uploaded more than 30 files, and then waited. After 6 months I started phoning and emailing. In June this year, MICT was planning an in-person site visit. And then, after more than a year of the pandemic, they decided to try technology for virtual site visits. Wow! Revolutionary ICT skills! Yes, I'm being sarcastic. How have they been working from home?
The MICT Senior Manager of Education and Training Quality Assurance announced the new virtual technology by email to 136 training vendors... with all the email addresses in the TO field. About 20 replied to all to say thank you. I didn't know whether to curse or cry or laugh. More proof of revolutionary IT skills.
Behind the scenes of a site visit
I was delighted to have a virtual site visit yesterday. It took less than 20 minutes to show the inspector around. She only asked specifically to see one thing: the fire extinguishers. (We have 50% more extinguishers than we need for the space.)
Every MICT inspector has asked about the fire extinguishers. One was fixated on our evacuation plan. If you've been to our venue, you'll know how unnecessary that is. No-one has ever asked about things like power backup for load-shedding, which is a regular occurrence in South Africa. (We have a UPS and a generator.)
I am curious. How often have you been at a training site where something caught fire?
The end of my rant
These are the people who claim the right to monitor what and how we train. And I haven't even discussed the question of course content. I've been arguing with MICT about the shockingly poor quality of their unit standards for more than a decade. And yes, I volunteered to help rewrite them, and was turned down.
I should apologise for my rant. But sometimes I have to, because this takes so much time and money. Where is the value?
As always, please share your thoughts and comments. And a word for next week.