The AAC is a structure set in place to advise the Group and Senate on academic matters very broadly defined.   Its mandate includes an oversight function similar to that of an internal audit competency.

Its chair is currently Prof Nicky Morgan.   The Director, Registrar and Group Chief Executive are ex officio members.   Other members are drawn from academia, business and broader society.   The AAC has no management of executive responsibility but is mandated to advise and comment on any matters which may impact on the educational and academic operations of the Group, but in particular the IIE (Pty) Ltd.

In line with conventional higher education practice the Senate is the highest academic decision making structure of the IIE and in this capacity sets academic policy for the Group.   The Senate is chaired by the Director.  Its secretary is the Registrar.   Heads of Faculty and Heads of Programme are ex officio members as are all other staff within the IIE with an academic mandate including the Head Librarian.

Academic staff from the IIE form the majority of full members of the Senate

The Teaching and Learning Committee considers all matters of academic policy and all academic decisions (such as proposed curriculum changes, impacts of existing policies, new programmes, and effectiveness of academic structures).

The IIE’s integrated approach to quality is clearly reflected in the mandate and work of the Teaching and Learning Committee. 

“…one of the key mandates of the Teaching and Learning Committee is the development and updating of policies, pertaining to the overall, quality functioning of the Institute and its divisions as well as overseeing and evaluating policy implementation.   As the Teaching and Learning Committee is constituted of various academic and administrative staff members and an integrated approach to quality is encouraged resulting in policy being successfully disseminated throughout the IIE’s divisional trading divisions and owned by those responsible for its implementation.”

The Teaching and Learning Committee is tasked with ensuring that the academic systems and procedures inherited from each of the trading divisions are sensibly rationalised in line with the IIE policies in such a way that the nett impact is quality improvement and maintenance of equity provision and process on each of the delivery sites.   Its guiding parameters are the policies of the IIE.   It is tasked with considering how best these can be applied to maintain equity while providing for necessary differentiation to accommodate, for instance, different structures and academic demands between the diplomas and degrees.

The library and its development is also a key agenda matter for this committee to ensure that the development of this critical academic support activity occurs in a manner integrated with other aspects of the academic work of the IIE and the sites of delivery.

This is a separate committee of the Senate and it deals with appeals lodged by students against outcomes of campus disciplinary processes.   It has only had to consider three or four appeals in its period of existence.   Extensive training was given to each campus principal and disciplinary hearings (and thus appeals) are rare.   The Registrar, a student and the Group legal advisor are members of the Appeals Committee.

Each Faculty has at least one of these committees made up mainly of external members whose responsibility it is to advise the faculty on its programmes and academic directions.   A balance is sought between external academic members and representatives from industry and business.