1997), private institutions of higher learning were granted the opportunity of becoming fully accredited and registered providers of education, issuing their own degrees and diplomas. Private Higher Education Institutions could register qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). In addition, if they met the Council on Higher Education (CHE) requirements and the Department of Education (DoE), they could take their place alongside the public sector institutions in providing nationally and internationally recognised programmes of study. Under the academic leadership of Dr. Gerald T. du Preez, Helderberg College received such accreditation and registration in 2001. Students who enrolled for degree programmes for the first time in 2001 thus began a course of study culminating in a Helderberg College degree, backed by SAQA, the CHE and the DoE. Students transferring to other tertiary institutions or wishing to engage in postgraduate study in South Africa can do with ease, as there is a common registering body with controlled standards and criteria. In addition, the courses done at Helderberg College are accredited by AAA (Adventist Accrediting Association), which makes them transferable to any one of the more than 115 Seventh-day Adventist institutions worldwide. The second perspective of the academic growth of the College has been the qualifications of the staff. From the start, the College has had well-qualified staff. In 1936, the small teaching staff had five teachers with master's degrees, two with bachelors', and the remainder with recognised diplomas. The first teacher with a doctorate was H. L. Rasmussen, who joined the staff in 1947 to teach history. In 1949 the principal, W. E. McClure, returned from furlough with a doctorate, as did F. C. Clarke, whose specialty was science. The offering of UNISA degrees on campus made it easier for a number of the staff to earn BA degrees, and in many cases, this led to post-graduate work. In the seventies, there were up to five staff with doctorates. Some of the first lecturers to earn a doctorate at a South African University included Dr. Hofni Joubert (in the late fifties), Dr. Izak J. van Zyl (in the seventies), with Dr. Delyse Steyn being the first woman to achieve this. Helderberg College regards a master's degree as the minimum academic qualification for lecturers. Through its staff development programme, it encourages and assists the teaching faculty in upgrading their qualifications where needed, with the goal of