DIRAP

Directorate for Institutional Research and Academic Planning

About DIRAP

In an age of unprecedented turbulence, universities face unpredictable and disruptive futures. When combined with the increasing demands for public accountability and transformation, productivity and innovation, access and success, and the intimidating clouds of world rankings, uninformed and underprepared universities face significant reputational loss.


The Directorate of Institutional Research and Academic Planning (DIRAP) is critical in enabling the University of the Free State to successfully navigate the perfect storm of contemporary post-secondary education provisioning to achieve its Vision 130 strategic intent.

Functional Areas

DIRAP provides seamless mission-critical services encompassing the following:

  • Strategy formulation and planning
  • Data-driven decision-making
  • Monitoring, evaluation and reporting
  • Institutional research
  • Academic planning and quality assurance
  • Management and business intelligence systems
  • Statutory and standard reports

DIRAP Directorates

DIRAP comprises of the Office of the Senior Director and three closely interrelated directorates, namely Monitoring and Institutional Research (MIR), Academic Planning and Quality Promotion (AP), and Institutional Information Systems.

Directorates collaboration

These Directorates collaborate to support the 2023 to 2028 Strategic Plan and Vision 130 of the UFS, with a specific focus on the following objectives and strategies:
  • Increasing student success by improving the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
  • Implementing strategic management of enrolments to achieve academic sustainability and to maximise our government subsidy in terms of teaching input and output, thereby reducing the UFS’s dependence on tuition fees, and
  • Improving student equity by narrowing the gap in success rates between black and white students.

Content of the Week

University of Venda - Visit to the UFS

Univen Benchmarking Visit

Benchmarking between universities serves a critical purpose in enhancing educational quality and institutional effectiveness. By systematically comparing various aspects such as curriculum design, faculty qualifications, student outcomes, and resource allocation, universities can obtain insights that inform strategic decision-making.

Furthermore by systematically comparing performance metrics, such as graduation rates, student satisfaction, and research output, universities can identify best practices and areas for improvement this comparative analysis fosters a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, allowing institutions to adapt to evolving educational demands and enhance their competitive edge.

The visit followed engagement by the respective DVC (Venda and UFS) – Prof Anthea Rhoda and Prof Eucebious Lekalakal-Mokgele.

In conclusion, The purpose was to benchmark DIRAP's role in advancing institutional planning, monitoring and evaluation, institutional research, academic planning and quality assurance and institutional data support as well as the support provided to the various levels of leadership across the university. Sharing of ideas and best practices, continued engagement and collaboration and building capacity at both institutions.

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