SABS Certification

Quality is a key driver in all governance, management and operations of Boland College. After a lengthy process of audits and process development it became the first College to be accredited for its quality based on international standards.

Another Quality first for Boland College

Boland College is the first Western Cape Public FET College to be SABS certified. Not only is the slogan of the Quality Management System (QMS) of Boland College "Quality First", but did they also live this slogan by being one of the first FET Colleges in the country and first in the Western Cape to become fully SABS, ISO 9001:2008 aligned, compliant and certified.

This lengthy process of various internal and external quality audits ensured that all process owners and staff members remained informed and updated on the various trends within the quality sphere, inadvertently motivating all process owners to see the QMS as a live system and to actively update and improve on set procedures, policies and documents.

Three months after the first Stage II SABS audit, the CEO, Mr. Chops Fourie and Quality Manager, Ms Johanna Coetzee, had the honour of accepting our SABS Accreditation Certificates, the proof that hard work and commitment by all involved, paid off. Mr. Fourie, in his acceptance speech, went on to say that one of the secrets of obtaining accreditation in such a smooth manner was: "because we did not do what we did to obtain certification, but did it with the commitment of good service delivery to both internal and external clients."

At an informal event, hosted at the Head Office in Stellenbosch Mr. Tony Fillmore, SABS Representative, agreed with Mr. Fourie by mentioning: "one only needs to watch the news to see that our country is passionate about service delivery. By committing to deliver good service of high quality, Boland College has taken ownership of the process and is an example of what can be achieved." He went on to mention: "When service delivery becomes the main focus of an organization, quality is the obvious next step."

Ms. Coetzee thanked all involved since the initial intervention in 2004 (from the GTZ-support, process owners, staff and management to Danida/SESD - Danish fund). Being recognized for Boland College's quality is a proud heritage, and to be certified by an internationally accepted norm will prove to prospective students, parents and industry, that they are investing in a proper product. This will further increase trust and validity and reliability to the statement of "FET First".