Cash injection for nursing
Resource type: News
Nursing education in South Africa is to receive a R70-million boost in the next four years with a donation from international donor organisation Atlantic Philanthropies.
The grant is targeted at increasing the quality and quantity of nurse training in South Africa and to provide possibilities for career development and specialisation. The aim is not only to improve the quality of nursing care in South Africa, but also to make it attractive enough to retain nurses and perhaps even thaw others in.
Four universities will receive grants of between R16-million and R17-million: the University of the Western Cape (UWC), the University of Fort Hare, the University of the Free State (UFS) and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).
In addition, there are three other institutions: Stellenbosh University; North-west University and the University of KwaZulu-Natal will receive small grants of Ri-million each as “seed money” for their nursing programmes. These will be used to start programmes, while universities look for additional funds.
The grants will be administered through the University-based Nursing Education South Africa (Uncdsa) programme, which is managed by the Inyathelo Tmst.
The Adelaide Tambo School of Nursing Science at TUT will use its funding to create mobile clinics, which will allow nurses to be trained in the community, thus giving greater experience to the healthcare workers and benefiting the communities.
The School of Nursing at UFS will develop a virtual facility to train students across the Free State and Northern Cape and to create a new unit to provide professional development and facilitate research training among nurses.
The School of Nursing at UWC will use its funding to create a Centre for Teaching and Learning Scholarship to develop nurses’ research capacity.
Fort Hare University will use its grant to develop doctor and research master?s programmes and to increase the number of staff and students involved in postgraduate education. The university will provide an extra R40-million in funding to create a centre for expanding post-graduate training for nurses.