The Higher Education Qualifications Framework and the changing environment of LIS education and training in South Africa: some observations

Abstract

Technological, economic and other changes continually reshape the library and information science landscape. In South Africa, the Library and Information Science (LIS) education and training sector is caught up in developments that include new directions in higher education such as the new Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF). This paper provides some observations on the implications of the HEQF on LIS education and training, amid other changes that influence the discipline. While establishing common parameters and criteria for designing qualifications, the HEQF poses challenges to the LIS education needs and practices including names, levels and articulation of qualifications, as well as titles of posts and hierarchies in the workplace. The paper further expounds on the other challenges that need to be simultaneously tackled while reshaping the future. At this critical juncture, the education and training for the information professions in South Africa requires a mixture of ardent focus on understanding the market forces on the one hand, so as to attract students and produce employable graduates and on the other hand a dogged determination to uphold a noble profession in spite of encroaching competition.