The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) Act of 1995 paved the way for the development and implementation of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), with SAQA as the overseeing authority. The NQF is intended to overcome the imbalances created by the apartheid education and training systems and bring together, under a single overarching qualifications framework, the certification of learning in a range of settings. Its concern is to facilitate the vertical and horizontal mobility of learners over a lifetime. The thesis considers the origins and the path followed by these initiatives in an attempt to address the challenges confronting South Africa. It contextualises this initiative within an analysis of the historical background, theoretical framework of globalisation and policy borrowing as well as the current situation with regard to the integration / unification of education and training. The principal methods adopted are the analysis of historical and current documents, triangulated with interview data from policy makers and other key informants. The study shows that the NQF in South Africa has its origins not only in the post-1994 policy agenda but also in the neo-liberal economic reforms initiated by the White apartheid government in the late 1970s to early 1980s in its attempt to address the economic and education crisis that was confronting the country. Further, this study finds that the development of the NQF in South Africa has been incremental rather than the product of a sharp break from the past. It is argued that in developing the NQF, SAQA did not take sufficiently into consideration the political, social and economic environment within which policy decisions have been taken. That being the case, it has been founded upon a political misapprehension, which has greatly impacted upon educational institutional building.