Capacity development initiatives and activities are designed to improve systemic and individual knowledge of quality assurance and thus to enable institutions and the higher education sector to improve their quality management systems. The aim is to build and strengthen quality provision capacity at institutional, learning programme and individual levels and across the higher education sector; and to foster a shared understanding of the HEQC's quality assurance system within the sector in order to strengthen the implementation of the audit and programme accreditation system.

In support of the HEQC's institutional audits and programme evaluation systems, the Quality Promotion and Capacity Development Directorate conceptualises and presents capacity development workshops.

Auditor Preparation Workshops have two aims: to prepare a pool of efficient, effective candidates, from a range of diverse disciplines, from which the HEQC may draw when constructing audit panels; and to improve understanding of the audit process within institutions and as part of the broader higher education context.

Evaluator Preparation Workshops prepare potential evaluators for roles in programme accreditation, in National Reviews and within their institutions. On a national level, they play an essential part in the accreditation system, the integrity of which depends on expert peers making evidence-based judgments based on a set of national minimum criteria. At the level of individual institutions, evaluators can play a part in the evaluation and self-regulation of programmes, and they can assist with preparing programmes for submission to the HEQC. Evaluators may also contribute to programme development within institutions, drawing on their knowledge of HEQC criteria and on insights gained through evaluating programmes.