FUNDISA
May 2012

 Three entry levels
 1 Year certificate to become a registered assistant nurse
 3 year diploma to become a staff nurse
 4 year B degree to become a professional nurse
 All at Higher Education level (level 5 or above)
 Public Nursing Colleges currently train about 70% of all nurses, including professional nurses

 Any institution that provides higher education on a full-time, part-time or distance basis and which is:
 Established or deemed to be established as a public higher education institution under this Act;
 Declared as a public higher education institution under this Act; or
 Registered or conditionally registered as a private higher education institution under this Act.
 Public higher education institution means any institution that is established, deemed to be established or declared as a public higher education institution under this act
 Higher education means all learning programmes leading to qualifications higher than grade 12 or its equivalent in terms of the NQF and includes tertiary education.

 Chapter 1: CHE
 Chapter 2: Public Higher Education Institutions
 Chapter 4: Governance of Public Higher Education
Institutions
 Chapter 5: Funding of Public Higher Education
 Chapter 6: Independent assessors
 Chapter 7: Private Higher Education Institutions
 Chapter 8: General
 Chapter 9: Transitional and other arrangements

 Can provincial DOH Colleges of Nursing offer
Higher Education?
 Answer: In terms of a letter received from the CEO of the CHE, they can
 But all their programmes have to be accredited by the Higher Education Quality Committee.

 Should the Nursing Colleges advocate declaration as a Higher Education Institution?
 Implications:
 They will be funded by DHE&T according to the current formula, which will be less than 50% of what they receive currently
 There is little political will to do this

University income
Student fees
T&L subsidy
Research

 Colleges can stay as they are, where they are, but apply for all their programmes to be accredited.
 Let us explore this option

 They do not accredit institutions, but only programmes.
 They are funded by the DHE&T
 Who will fund programme accreditation of nursing programmes?
Agricultural programme accreditation is funded by DAF.
 Application is made online, by the institution with two components:
 Institutional information
 Programme information
 The Criteria for Programme Accreditation is the foundational document.
 Process of approval for new programmes:
 Candidacy phase
 Accreditation phase

 An institution has to demonstrate, firstly, that it meets the HEQC criteria for candidacy phase (input criteria) or that it has the potential or capability to meet these criteria in a stipulated period of time.
 The institution’s application should be based on a critical self-evaluation of the new programme against requirements of the HEQC programme input criteria.
 Secondly the institution should submit a plan for the implementation of the new programme specifying implementation steps (including time frames and resource) and strategies to meet process, output and impact criteria.

Criteria
Input
Process
Outcomes and impact
Numbers
1-9
10-16
17-19

 FINANCIAL ISSUES:
 Colleges cannot have developmental funds – something without which no modern HEI can exist.
 They do not control their own student fees.
 They do not have their own financial policies and systems.
 STAFFING ISSUES:
 Colleges have no independent HR policies
 A single discipline staff teaching (in B degree) in a multidisciplinary programme.

 Can these problems be solved within provinces?
 Perhaps in some, but not everywhere.
 The majority has no provincial Acts to legitimize
NE
 Is there another option?
 Agriculture is developing a national Act for
Agricultural Colleges
 This might be the way to go for nursing:
 A Public Nursing Colleges Act (PNC Act)

 It may be an acceptable political solution:
 The DOH get what they want – nursing stays in
Health;
 The DHE&T gets a legal way to not have to take on a whole new sector.
 It allows issues in nursing colleges to be addressed to improve control and quality
 External funding
 HR policies

 IINITIAL LOBBYING
 Objectives:
 1. Get support in principal
 2. Clarify process and timelines
 Targets:
 CHE
 Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
 DOH and DHE&T
 DEVELOPING AND PROMULGATING THE ACT
 Getting it approved by the sector
 Submitting it to DOH

 Set out legislative and practical problems
 Suggest the PNC Act as a possible solution
 Outline main principles of the Act
 Suggest a Task Team
 Suggest a timeline

 This is a period of intense activity which should be planned carefully and executed with the support of all Nursing Education Stakeholders