Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences Courses

Enrolments in Nursing programmes should increase across the board, assisted by the offering of a range of new BCur specialisations also to be made available at postgraduate level. A new 240-credit Diploma in Nursing will contribute to the training of the many more mid-level workers needed.[ Additional 240c and 360c diplomas should also be considered where necessary, taking into account the revised Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework.]

While Pharmacy programmes are currently offered on both the Turfloop and Medunsa campuses of the University of Limpopo (and, in the case of the Bachelor of Pharmacy, in collaboration with TUT), there is room at the new university for increased enrolments, particularly at the undergraduate level, and also to take advantage of the recent professional focus on Authorised Pharmacy Prescribers and Pharmacovigilance.

Physiotherapy-related programmes can be expanded and supplemented with an undergraduate focus on exercise science and sports medicine.

The established discipline of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology can be differentiated into separate programmes; and undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Optometry will be new additions to the Medunsa campus, having until now been offered only at the Turfloop campus of the University of Limpopo.

Dietetics, another long-established set of programmes, can be differentiated and supplemented by programmes specifically focused on Nutrition, as well as a Diploma in Food Safety.

There should be a natural increase in the student intake into Occupational Therapy programmes.

Public health, and primary health care and health promotion in particular, are crucial components of the Department of Health’s long-term strategy, and given the demand for both specialists and mid-level workers in these areas, the Medunsa campus’s existing postgraduate offerings in the field need to be increased and expanded and also supplemented with undergraduate qualifications.

Enrolments in Oral Health programmes should increase across the board, along with new undergraduate programmes in Dental Assistance and Oral Hygiene.

Given the dependence of almost all health science programmes on the basic science disciplines, the existence of science service modules and programmes on both the Turfloop and Medunsa campuses, and the already significant enrolments in these areas, it stands to reason that the science programmes should be expanded and increased, and also supplemented by programmes in information technology (which in turn will underpin some of the planned new medical technology programmes).

The introduction of medical technology programmes is in accordance with international trends.

Programmes in veterinary science are envisaged as an important component of the new health and allied sciences university. However, for various reasons related to costs (both the costs of new veterinary infrastructure and everyday operating costs) and location (such as the availability of clinical training opportunities), further discussion and investigation of possible synergies amongst all roleplayers in the veterinary field needs to take place, particularly with regard to the optimal extent (the number and kind of programmes to be offered) and level (undergraduate and/or postgraduate) of the veterinary science programmes to be offered.[ For a more detailed discussion of various options with regard to veterinary clinical training opportunities, see Section 7 below.]

Finally, the increased number of programmes in general, and the expansion or addition of certain health-related disciplines in particular (such as public health and medical technology, as well as veterinary science) will require a revised academic specialisation structure.

In addition to the four Schools already extant on the Medunsa campus, three additional Schools can be envisaged: a School of Veterinary Sciences, a School of Science and Technology (to accommodate the expanded basic science programmes and the medical technology programmes) and a School of Humanities (incorporating psychology, social work, language and education service or specialisation programmes).

This proposed Programme Qualification Mix, based as it is on a review of programmes offered at stand-alone health sciences universities and their comparison with programmes offered in South Africa and more specifically on the Medunsa campus, thus indicates the main areas where, in principle, the new comprehensive university incorporating the Medunsa campus could consider expanding, extending and increasing its academic offerings through various different qualification types and levels.