The University of Stellenbosch Business School’s (USB) African Centre for Dispute Settlement (ACDS) has become the first centre in Africa and only the 8th in the world to be certified by the International Mediation Institute (IMI) in the Hague.

According to Professor Barney Jordaan, Head of the ACDS, this certification allows the centre to qualify advanced South African mediators with IMI accreditation through offering its Qualifying Assessment Programme (QAP).

Irena Vanenkova, IMI’s Executive Director, says the QAP marks yet another step on the way to quality assurance in mediation and to make mediation a profession. “The ACDS will now be able to add valuable contribution to the international development research on dispute settlement,” says Jordaan.

The ACDS provides an African hub for academic research on, and the development and teaching of, dispute settlement theory and practice. “By changing the dispute settlement paradigm and practice the ACDS is able to contribute to the transformation of business, society, commerce, legal practice and the administration of justice,” says Jordaan.

As of this year the centre offers an internationally accredited Postgraduate Diploma in Dispute Settlement at USB, as well as shorter programmes in mediation. “Other institutions that have achieved QAP status include the Mediationcenter, Copenhagen; ADR Institute of Canada; LEADR, Australia; the American Arbitration association; Institut Français de Certification des Médiateurs; the Nederlands Mediation Institute; and the Indian Institute of Arbitration and Mediation,” says Vanenkova.

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