Undergraduate

The Bachelor of Nursing programme educates and guides students in becoming a Professional Nurse and Midwife. Through learning experiences on campus, within communities and in various healthcare facilities, students will develop the behaviours, skills and capabilities they need to become leaders who value diversity, and who bring careful thought and innovation to their caring practice in nursing. You will become able to craft a person-centred, holistic, contemporary, evidence-informed and resource-sensitive caring practice to support the healthcare and wellbeing of individuals, groups and communities. Nursing caring practice ranges from seemingly simple essential care activities through to complex, sometimes highly technical, care activities – whatever is necessary to support people to meet their self-care needs, stay or become healthy, and experience well-being. Nurses work with their healthcare colleagues across many different contexts to provide safe, quality person-centred care to people, families and communities who have multiple and varied self-care needs across the lifespan.

The training of nurses and midwives

This is a four-year programme offered on the Tygerberg campus and its associated distributed clinical training platforms. The clinical practice context is very diverse, ranging from the public sector health care service settings to the private health care sector, including relevant learning experience in schools, social services, rehabilitation facilities, and non-governmental and non-profit organisations. The curriculum encompasses the study of the Nursing and Midwifery discipline theory and practice across the four years. This discipline-specific learning is complemented by modules in Anatomy, Physiology, Biophysics and Biochemistry, Psychosocial Aspects of Care, Research Methodology, Microbiology and Pharmacology. This is followed by one year of community service after which you will be eligible to register with the South African Nursing Council as a Professional Nurse and Midwife. For further information on the curriculum, see our Calendar.

Career opportunities

There are many work opportunities in healthcare once you are registered with the South African Nursing Council (SANC). Nurses and Midwives work in the public, private and non-governmental healthcare services as well as other health-related industries and academic environments. These opportunities include working in district health services, clinics, community or school health, hospitals, frail care, correctional facility healthcare and private practice, to name a few. This degree provides the foundation from which you can then study further to become a specialist nurse in disciplines such as primary health care, occupational health, operating room nursing, emergency nursing, critical care nursing, paediatric and neonatal nursing, healthcare service management, nursing education, palliative care, oncology or advanced psychiatry. Apart from the specialist programmes, the Bachelor’s degree also provides further opportunities such as pursuing Master’s and PhD degrees. See the postgraduate prospectus for further information in this regard.

Occupational Therapy is a dynamic and rewarding profession. This programme equips you with the knowledge and skills to assess and design effective interventions for persons of all age groups with developmental delays, with differential diagnoses and with functional deficits. Activity is used as the treatment method. The intervention programmes are designed for application in home environments and in community settings with the aim of enabling the persons to attain optimal occupational performance. These programmes prevent functional disability, rehabilitate patients, and promote their overall health.

As an occupational therapist, you will approach a patient holistically and, taking into consideration physical, psychological, social and emotional aspects, address all areas of the patient’s occupational performance − this includes self-care tasks, and work- and leisure-time activities. With regard to children, whose main occupation is play, treatment programmes are based on play and school-related activities.

Indirect occupational therapy services include the guidance you will give to teachers, employers, family members and caregivers to enable them to assist patients to achieve optimal occupational performance, and the management of activity programmes presented to groups of people in facilities and in the community to enhance healthy lifestyles.

The training of occupational therapists

This is a four-year programme. The first year of the programme is presented mainly at the Stellenbosch Campus and the rest of the programme at the Tygerberg Campus. The programme comprises a study of Occupational Therapy (theory and practice), Psychology, Sociology, Special Physics, Industrial Psychology, Biology, Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology for Allied Health Sciences, and Research Methodology in Occupational Therapy.

On completion of the programme you are required to do a year of community service, after which you will be eligible for registration as an Occupational Therapist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

As a trained occupational therapist, you may find employment opportunities in a number of different environments. These include hospitals, private practice, community clinics, industries, schools for children with a wide range of special needs, rehabilitation centres and special units (e.g. spinal unit) and insurance companies.

For further information on the curriculum, see our Calendar. This qualification may be followed up with a Master of Occupational Therapy and a PhD.

The Bachelor of Speech-Language Therapy programme trains speech-language therapists in the relevant knowledge and skills for the management of persons with communication disorders. You are equipped to perform the following professional functions:

• prevention, identification, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders;
• client- and family-centred counselling;
• education and training of other professionals or relevant lay persons;
• consultation and research in the field of communication disorders; and
• management of programmes provided by speech-language therapists to patients with communication disorders in health, education and private contexts.

In order to perform the above-mentioned functions optimally in the multilingual South African context, therapists are expected to be competent in at least two languages, as well as Sign Language.

The training of speech-language therapists

The curriculum spans four years and covers the complete range of speech, language, voice and hearing, fluency, feeding and swallowing disorders that are encountered in the field of communication pathology. The hearing therapy content includes aspects of the practice of audiology such as basic pre-tone and speech audiometry, immittance audiometry and rehabilitation.

With respect to hearing disorders, the emphasis in training is on management and rehabilitation of persons with hearing loss. Students are also trained in basic Sign Language to support rehabilitation.

The first two years of the programme are offered at the Stellenbosch Campus, but students spend at least one day per week on the Tygerberg Campus. The Division of Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy arranges bus transportation for this purpose. The third and fourth years of the programme are presented at the Tygerberg Campus. You will complete your clinical training at approved sites in the Western Cape.

Majors: Speech Pathology, Clinical Speech Pathology, Psychology and General Linguistics.

Other modules: Anatomy, Neuroanatomy and Clinical Neurology, which are continually adjusted to meet the needs of the profession. Xhosa or Afrikaans Language Acquisition (as determined by language proficiency tests) is a compulsory first-year subject to introduce the structure and system of the language to students. Clinical modules will provide you with opportunities to acquire relevant clinical skills for application in specific contexts under the supervision of qualified therapists. Clinical training takes place in hospitals, schools, community health centres and clinics. We place a high premium is placed on excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Your proficiency in Xhosa is developed further in the second, third and fourth year to enable you to communicate with patients and caregivers in clinical settings.

For further information on the curriculum, see our Calendar. This qualification may be followed up with a Master of Speech-Language Therapy and a PhD.

Upon completion of the programme you are required to do a year of community service, after which you will be eligible for registration as a speech-language therapist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

As a speech-language therapist, you have an opportunity to practise in the public, private and non-government sectors as well as in academic institutions. Graduates may register with the Health Professions Council of South Africa and obtain work in hospitals, clinics, schools, private practices and academia.

The programme BSc in Dietetics aims to produce dietitians who have the scientific knowledge, skills and attitudes to function independently in the areas of therapeutic nutrition, community nutrition and foodservice management.

The training of dietitians

As a student of this programme, your studies will span four years, and you will be trained on the Tygerberg Campus from the first year. See our Calendar for the curriculum.

First-year: Chemistry for Health Sciences, Life-forms and Functions of Clinical Importance, Anatomy, Nutrition, Foods, Medical Microbiology, Physiological Biochemistry, Anatomy and Health in Context.

Second-year: Physiology, Anatomy, Food Production and Systems, Applied Food Science, Therapeutic Nutrition, Nutrition during the Life Cycle, Psychology for Health Sciences, Community Nutrition, Ethics and Human Rights, Nutritional Status Assessment, and Practical Training.

Third-year: Therapeutic Nutrition, Community Nutrition, Management Principles, Research Methodology, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Ethics and Human Rights, and Practical Training.

Fourth-year: Food Service Management, Therapeutic Nutrition, Community Nutrition, 34-week internship (which includes a minimum of six weeks at the Ukwanda Rural Clinical School) and a research project.

Upon completion of this four-year programme you are required to do a year of community service, after which you will be eligible for registration as a dietitian with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

On graduation, you will have a wide spectrum of career choices in areas such as therapeutic dietetics, community nutrition, and the food and pharmaceutical industry. You may also work as a researcher, a lecturer in academia or a nutrition consultant in private practice. For more information about career fields within Dietetics, visit the website of the Association for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA).

The aim of the BSc in Physiotherapy programme is to produce a health care professional who is dedicated to working with people and who can maximise their client’s ability to move and function throughout their lifespan. Physiotherapists work in the health spheres of promotion, prevention, treatment or intervention and rehabilitation, and work in many areas including cardiorespiratory functioning, orthopaedics, neurology, paediatrics, women’s health, the elderly and sports. Physiotherapists work both independently and within teams to achieve the goals mentioned above.

The training of physiotherapists

This is a four-year programme covering the following modules:

• Life-forms and Functions of Clinical Importance;
• Chemistry for Health Sciences;
• Personal and Professional Development; Health in Context;
• Special Physics;
• Anatomy;
• Physiology;
• Pathology;
• Anatomical Pathology;
• Psychology;
• Physiotherapy Science;
• Applied Physiotherapy;
• Clinical Physiotherapy;
• Research Methodology; and
• Physiotherapy Practice Management.

See our Calendar for the curriculum.

On completion of the programme you are required to do a year of community service, after which you will be eligible for registration as a physiotherapist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

Your career in physiotherapy may find expression in a wide variety of environments, including hospitals, private practice, community clinics, industry, schools for children with special education needs, rehabilitation centres and sports clubs.

The aim of the MBChB is to produce graduated doctors who have the knowledge, skills and attitudes to optimally utilise the opportunities available during the two-year internship to function autonomously in the primary health care sector after that, and who have acquired the ability and insight to develop further personally and professionally.

The training of medical doctors

The six-year training is followed by two years of internship and thereafter a year of community service. Hereafter you will be eligible for registration as an Independent Medical Practitioner with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

A wide range of employment opportunities exists, for instance in private practice, in hospitals or other medical institutions, in various government or non-governmental organisations, in research, in academic medicine or in the private sector with, for example, insurance companies or the pharmaceutical industry.

Postgraduate studies for a career in research or for specialisation in any clinical discipline are further attractive options. For our postgraduate offering, see here.

For further information on the curriculum, see our Calendar.