Stellenbosch University (SU) is proud to be the quality assurer of the International Secondary Certificate (ISC), a new school-leaving qualification developed and offered by the international arm of the Independent Examinations Board (IEB). The first IEB-ISC examinations will take place in November 2022, which means that the first cohort of ISC-qualified students will be applying to university this year with a view to enrolling in 2023.

The IEB-ISC has undergone extensive evaluation. Firstly, it was assessed by Universities South Africa (USAf), who concluded that international candidates who obtain the qualification with merit or at an advanced level,  and are offered a place at a South African higher education institution, will have met the minimum requirements for admission to degree programmes.

UK Ecctis (previously UK NARIC) too scrutinised the qualification. This institution, which represents the United Kingdom in all matters relating to international qualifications, benchmarked the IEB-ISC and found it to be comparable to reputable international qualifications such as the AS-Levels of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Senior Secondary Certificate of Education of Australia, and the Certificate of Secondary Education of Kenya. In addition, they regard the IEB-ISC at Further Studies level as equivalent to the United Kingdom's A-Levels.

SU's Unit for International Credentialing (SU-UIC) has been working hard to set up the necessary structures, processes and policies to quality-assure the IEB-ISC effectively. A quality assurance governance committee has been established with Prof Hester Klopper, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Strategy, Global and Corporate Affairs, as chair. The committee comprises nationally renowned educationalists and leaders from secondary and higher education, as well as former policymakers from the fields of curriculum and assessment. They will oversee the quality assurance of key IEB-ISC processes and the ISC-related work of the SU-UIC.

Moreover, the governance committee will have oversight over two expert working committees, which will be responsible for curriculum and assessment matters and the standardisation of examination results respectively. The former is chaired by Dr Nan Yeld, manager of the implementation preparation plan for the Council on Higher Education's new Quality Assurance Framework for Higher Education in South Africa, while the latter is headed by Prof Sizwe Mabizela, vice-chancellor of Rhodes University. Both chairs also serve on the governance committee.

To SU, the new IEB-ISC is an affordable alternative Africa-centred international school-leaving certificate. By quality-assuring the qualification, the University hopes to contribute to education globally.

For more information, visit www.sun.ac.za/SU-UIC and www.iebiq.com/pages/aboutus.

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