Evaluating the effectiveness of Umalusi council for quality assurance in general and further education and training as a public entity in the South African education regulatory system

Abstract

The South African government like most governments around the world create public entities to perform functions on its behalf and achieve particular objectives ranging from facilitating investments, delivering services or providing goods and advice. These public entities receive annual funding either whole or in part from the national fiscus and report to parliament through their respective Ministries. In the 2005/6 financial year government funded Umalusi 7, 69 million rands through direct transfer payments from the Department of Education, excluding any indirect payments from other governmental structures. Many public entities, about three hundred and thirty odd or so in South Africa, were promulgated to ensure and improve service delivery to the nation. However, they were not intended to be seen as an extension of their reporting departments. This research work evaluates the effectiveness of Umalusi in the education regulatory system and seeks to find ways to improve public entity effectiveness using the South African Excellence Model (SAEM) as the base tool to measure organisational effectiveness. A brief conclusion to this study is that Umalusi as a public entity, is adequately meeting its intended purpose. This is confirmed through its annual reports having never received a qualified audit since its inception. This research triangulates the results of the South African Excellence Model, the Questionnaire to senior education officials and the Auditors' Reports to confirm that Umalusi is effective as a public entity in the South African regulatory system.