The Higher Education Quality Assurance Forum (HEQAF) was established in 2024 to enhance the quality of higher education by bringing together key stakeholders—such as university administrators, quality assurance professionals, policymakers, and students—to discuss and share best practices in quality assurance. The inaugural forum served as a platform for presenting current practices, testing new ideas, and eliciting feedback from colleagues and stakeholders on topics of interest.
The 2025 forum is a continuation of the engagement that began last year, building upon the discussions and initiatives from the inaugural event further to strengthen the quality assurance processes in higher education. This aims to engage participants to reflect on the value of students’ voices in QA, practitioners' approach to QA, scholarship and multidisciplinary collaborative research on quality, support services, and engagement from an international, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary perspective.
The Forum will reflect on philosophical, procedural, and methodological developments in student engagement as applicable at all levels and elevate conversations on creating adaptive, quality learning environments. It will bring together international, interprofessional, and interdisciplinary scholarship, research, leadership, policy, and educational innovations in QA and respond to Sustainable Development Goal 4—Quality Education. The programme will provide insights into the wide range of approaches, and we hope all will find a topic of interest to send an abstract and join the forum.
We warmly welcome teachers, researchers, stakeholders, QA practitioners, QA managers, QA champions, QA administrators, and students from around the globe to contribute to and participate in the Higher Education Quality Assurance Forum hosted by the University of South Africa and Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The forum encourages panel discussions and roundtable discussions. It is designed to ensure maximum active participation from all attendees. It is developmental in its orientation, in that it creates a platform for junior QA practitioners to participate in smaller, less intimidating environments.
HEQAF provides an opportunity to network, share insights, research findings, and innovative practices in the field of QA and Enhancement within Higher Education in the Global South.
Forum Date: 30 September to 02 October 2025
School of Graduate Studies and Business Leadership – Midrand, South Africa
The global higher education sector is undergoing profound transformation as institutions respond to dynamic challenges such as technological disruption, shifting learner demographics, and demands for more inclusive, flexible, and responsive teaching and learning models (Altbach, Reisberg, & Rumbley, 2009; UNESCO, 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this shift, compelling universities to reconfigure traditional modalities and reassess the meaning of quality education in an increasingly digital and globalised context (Zawacki-Richter, 2021).
In this evolving landscape, adaptive learning environments—characterised by flexibility, personalisation, digital integration, and inclusive practices—have emerged as critical to ensuring academic excellence, equity, and relevance. However, adapting to these environments necessitates rethinking quality assurance (QA) mechanisms to align with the needs of learners, institutions, and broader societal goals (Harvey & Green, 1993; Stensaker, 2008). This forum aims to convene academics, practitioners, policymakers, and students to dialogue and share evidence-based practices for enhancing quality in adaptive higher education systems.
The objectives of the 2025 forum are to: