Full accreditation for NWU Urban and Regional Planning

The South African Council for Planners (Sacplan) recently reviewed the BSc programme in Urban and Regional Planning at the North-West University, granting it full accreditation until 2026.

Sacplan, the planning departments/schools’ statutory council, evaluates them once every five years and grants one of three outcomes: full accreditation when the planning programme complies with and, in certain instances, exceeds the minimum standards; accreditation with conditions when the programme needs improvement and should be re-evaluated after a certain period, or no accreditation if the programme does not meet the minimum standards.

In terms of the Planning Profession Act 36 of 2002, Sacplan is mandated to conduct accreditation visits to any educational institution that has a department, school or faculty of planning to evaluate the quality of the programme. An accreditation process typically involves submitting a lengthy report to present the programme. A Sacplan panel then visits the department/school to evaluate their teaching practices and the facilities available to planning students. It also has discussions with members of the executive management of the institution, the chair of the programme, staff and students. The chair of the planning programme also delivers a presentation of the programme.

This year was unique in that it was the first-ever blended accreditation, due to the challenges of the Covid-19 world pandemic. A blended accreditation approach means that certain accreditation processes take place in person, like inspecting the teaching facilities, while others take place in the virtual space, e.g. via Zoom or by using a combination of in-person attendance and a virtual platform.

The Urban and Regional Planning group has lived up to its vision of being “a value-driven, innovative Urban and Regional Planning School of international excellence that pertinently recognises the local context”. The team presented their programme in video format – the first time a programme overview was presented in this way.

For urban and regional planning students, accreditation means they may register as professional planners. They would first have to achieve the four-year qualification and gain practical experience as a candidate planner for 24 months,  under the guidance of a professional, registered urban and regional planner. Other professional careers with a similar accreditation process are architects, land surveyors, lawyers, doctors, and other professions.

After years of hard work, the team of dedicated staff now reaps the fruit of their labours. According to Dr Puren, the newly appointed chair of the subject group, their success is based upon a famous African proverb “If you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together”.