ECSA awards full accreditation to IIE degrees
March 2025
News

Louise Wiseman, managing director of IIE’s Varsity College, Vega and IIE MSA.
The Independent Institute of Education (IIE), South Africa’s leading private higher education institution and a division of JSE-listed ADvTECH, has received full accreditation from the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). This is the first private higher education provider in the country to be recognised in this manner by the industry authority.
All engineering degrees in South Africa must be offered with the approval of ECSA. IIE has been offering ECSA-endorsed Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng) degrees since 2018. In the first years of offering these degrees, ECSA conducted various site visits and reviews of IIE’s B.Eng degrees to ensure that the qualifications adhered to best practice and to national and international standards for engineering. Full accreditation has now been awarded for IIE’s B.Eng degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and in Mechanical Engineering.
“This milestone is truly significant as IIE becomes the first private higher education institution in Africa to receive full accreditation for engineering degrees under the international Washington Accord,” says Louise Wiseman, managing director of IIE’s Varsity College, Vega and IIE MSA.
Private higher education institutions in South Africa may not currently call themselves private universities. However, the Department of Higher Education and Training is finalising criteria for institutions intending to ensure that qualifying private higher education institutions may rightly be recognised as private universities, as opposed to state-funded public universities.
“This recognition re-affirms that IIE is uniquely positioned in the private sector to provide the highest quality of academic excellence in line with public universities.”
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