THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SABPP ACCREDITATION FOR STAFF AND STUDENTS OF
WALTER SISULU UNIVERSITY (IBIKA CAMPUS)
By Marius Meyer, CEO: SA Board for People Practices (SABPP)
Talk as guest speaker at SABPP Accreditation Celebration, Walter Sisulu University
31May 2017
Distinguished academic leaders, academics and support staff, advisory committee members, guests and students. Today is a special day: We are celebrating the accreditation of Walter Sisulu University (Ibika Campus) and this is a significantachievement for staff and students alike. Life is about certificates, you start your life with a birth certificate and you end it with a death certificate. Most of you may also accumulate marriage certificates, and if we believe national and provincial statistics, some of you will also obtain divorce certificates. But today we issue two main certificates: The accreditation certificate of WSU and the best student award from SABPP. Furthermore to you the students, even before you graduate, we also bring you your first post-matric certificate, a SABPP certificate as a student member of the HR Professional and Quality Assurance Body of South Africa. I am glad to hear that another 100 WSU students have signed up with SABPP. You are now part of the bigger SABPP family consisting of thousands of HR professionals and students throughout the country and several other countries. This will be the first of several certificates from SABPP. Your next certificate will be your official professional registration certificate when you are fully registered as an HR Professional in accordance with the NQF Act.
But today is first and foremost about the accreditation of WSU Ibika Campus. What does accreditation really mean? It means that the SA Board for People Practices (SABPP), as the professional and quality assurance body for HR in South Africa has signed-off on our accreditation report, thereby formally certifying that the curriculum, teaching, assessment and research done by WSU staff meet the national standard of SABPP. It means that we regard you as meeting the minimum standards we also expect from other universities such as the University of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the University of Venda.
I am honoured to be with you today, because the Eastern Cape has a special place in the history of HR teaching at universities in South Africa. You may not know this, but the very first HR academic programme in South Africa was offered by an Eastern Cape university, and that was Rhodes University way back in 1947. Today, 70 years later, Walter Sisulu University has overtaken Rhodes University by becoming the second university in the Eastern Cape to be accredited (after NMMU). You are now joining the HR Academy hall of fame consisting of the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, University of Pretoria, University of Johannesburg, Vaal University of Technology, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and others as the top universities offering professionally accredited HR academic qualifications in South Africa.
I am glad to see that the SABPP Eastern Cape Chairperson, Nandi Sishuba is also here today. I want to encourage you to work with her as the SABPP leader and representative in the Eastern Cape. Engage with the SABPP Eastern Cape Committee to build your career and the HR profession in the province. We can only be as strong as our collective effort in improving HR practice in the Eastern Cape province.
The very notion of accreditation is at the heart of what we do as a professional body. We have two main functions: We provide quality assurance to accredit learning providers and universities. In addition, we are a professional body setting HR standards and competencies. In fact, as SABPP we are the first HR professional body in the world with national HR standards. Thus, this accreditation means that employers should have confidence that graduates exiting the university are employable and that they meet the SABPP standards of knowledge and practice. Your qualification has credibility and status among HR Managers.
It also means that in a year or two when you enter the workplace, and you achieve the relevant professional registration level with SABPP, you will become an Ex-officio Commissioner of Oaths appointed by the Minister of Justice by virtue of your professional registration with SABPP. Hence, you will have the same status as chartered accountants and lawyers.In essence, this is the journey from student to professional you have embarked on with SABPP as your life long HR professional partner. As I always say to universities: You partner with students for three to four years, but SABPP partners with you the next 40-45 years as we develop you as an HR professional throughout your career.
I also want to take this opportunity of sharing the top five HR trends with you, and interestingly these trends also constitute the top five higher order competencies on the National HR Competency Model developed by SABPP:
- Strategy – we need to understand business strategy and develop HR strategy in support of business objectives.
- Talent Management – we have to manage talent in our organisations.
- HR Governance, Risk and Compliance – we must manage HR risks effectively and protect our organisations and its people.
- Analytics – we need to analyse HR data and report metrics to management so that we can show the bottom-line impact of HR on the organisation.
- Service Delivery – just like municipalities are supposed to do, we have to provide HR service to management and employees so that they can be productive.
Moreover, I need to remind you of what professionalism is all about. I have created the acronym POWER to position the first letters thereof as words for you to remember as you join SABPP on the professionalism journey.
P = Professional – you need a professional mind-set in everything you do. Always do your best.
O = Opportunity – we will open the door of opportunities for you, use these opportunities.
W = Wisdom – your lecturers have wisdom, learn from them and become wise yourself.
E = Energy – as the youth, you have energy, use your energy to make the workplace and society better.
R = Relationships - you are now part of the SABPP family, let us build our relationships and grow.
Therefore, while we sometimes think that only politicians have power, as professionals we all have power. Our power lies in professionalism, and our professional thinking, behaviour, conduct and network. We need one another, and South Africa needs all of you to make the Eastern Cape and the country a better place. This week we witnessed in the newspapers how companies, their boards and even cabinet ministers don’t know whether a CEO is appointed, retired, retrenched or on leave. These are HR matters that have become a national embarrassment for organisations, their boards, top management and politicians. We are the professionals who need to advise them on how to do professional HR work right.
A special word of congratulations to the management, academics and staff of WSU. You deserve this accreditation and we are proud of the hard work you have put in to achieve this success today. You are all stars and champions for advancing high quality higher education in the Eastern Cape and South Africa. This province and indeed our country is a better place because of you. You are giving your best to the students so that they can walk out here as highly qualified graduates who are ready to make a difference in the workplace.
And lastly, but most importantly, a special word of encouragement to you the WSU students: While you are surely proud of your achievement and commitment today, the bad news is that as SABPP Chairperson, Siphiwe Moyo always says - the world owes you nothing. Rather, you owe a contribution and value to the world for the space you occupy. You can remain unemployed or under-employed or you can make yourself indispensable – the choice is yours. Make us proud of you, your families, your organisations, industry sectors and WSUwith your achievements - become the best student, employee and professional you can be. You are the change agents who will rewrite the history and future of your organisation, and leave a legacy for the next generation. You are empowered today as a WSU student and future graduate at an accredited university. Accept and use this opportunity as a gift from WSU and SABPP. Use this opportunity to build your career and the HR profession and thereby making South Africa a better country for all of us.I congratulate and salute you today, go out and celebrate in changing the world tomorrow. God bless you. I thank you for the opportunity of celebrating this historic moment of the WSU accreditation with you.
Marius Meyer @MariusSABPP and @SABPP1
Marius Meyer is CEO of the SA Board for People Practices (SABPP), the HR and HRD professional body and ETQA for HR and HRD learning provision. SABPP is responsible for accrediting the HR curriculum of universities. Previously he was qualification leader for the HR honours degree programmes and lectured in HRD at the University of Johannesburg, Monash South Africa and the University of South Africa. Marius is also doing HR academic work for North-West University, Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town. He has been an HRD professional, manager, consultant, academic and thought leader for the last 23 years. He is a regular speaker at local and international conferences and author of 200+ articles and 22 books. The three most recent achievements of his team are as follows:
- South African HR Competency Model
- National HR Standards for South Africa (first set in the world)
- HR Professionals approved as Commissioners of Oaths by the Minister of Justice
More information about SABPP is available on their new website you can also follow them on twitter @SABPP1. More information about WSU is available on src="C:\ExportImg\cdb426cf262e1bef03c5140631da6986\Aspose.Words.1d1990c0-2041-4583-9c3c-f2db9565bcba.004.png" width="712" height="72" alt="" style="margin-top:-22.57pt; margin-left:6pt; -aw-left-pos:0pt; -aw-rel-hpos:page; -aw-rel-vpos:bottommargin; -aw-top-pos:0pt; -aw-wrap-type:none; position:absolute">