The National Qualifications Register (NQR) was first introduced in 2000 as an accurate, streamlined way to address the growing demand for credentials verification and background screening from both public and private organisations.
"Processing the increase in number of requests was both time and labour intensive. We wanted to expedite verification and do so internally, without the need to call on external services," explains Ina van der Merwe, CEO of MIE. The NQR now serves as a database housing graduate records from all subscribed tertiary institutions. This register is implemented as a computerised relational database and is accessed via a suite of specialised and integrated tools.
Information comes straight from the institution which means that MIE has all the necessary detail of qualifications at hand to verify qualifications quickly. The institutions are the owners of the information and MIE a custodian. To date the NQR has more than 2,6 million student qualification entries which are updated on a regular basis to reflect the most recent graduation status for each institution, and enables almost instantaneous verification feedback for resident qualifications.
According to van der Merwe qualifications that are officially from institutions not listed on the NQR can take some time to verify. This can have serious implications for individuals and the job market as a whole. "Being able to verify a qualification quickly means that persons with legitimate qualifications have an advantage in the job market. If there is a lengthy wait for confirmation it could mean that either the person gets passed over because the qualification cannot be verified quickly enough or it means that the employer just hires the person anyway, and its quite possible that the qualification is fraudulent," she adds.
