27 July 2012 | TO ALL: | Nursing Education Institutions | | | Provincial Departments of Health | | | Stakeholders |
Dual Submission of Programmes for Accreditation to South African Nursing Council (SANC) and Council on Higher Education (CHE) 1. PURPOSE  | To meet requirements for registration of programmes and registration of professional designation | | To guide nursing education institutions (NEI’s) when developing curriculum/s for submission to SANC and CHE |
2. BACKGROUND The South African Nursing Council as a statutory body and ETQA has responsibility of ensuring compliance by nursing education institutions with the Nursing Act No. 33 of 2005 and other relevant legislation in provisioning of nursing education and training. The Nursing Act, 2005 (Act No. 33 of 2005), chapter 2, section 42, sub-sections (1), (2), (3) and (4) states that: “(1) An institution intending to conduct a nursing education and training programme in order to prepare persons for practice in any one of the categories contemplated in section 31 (of the Act) must first— (a) apply to the Council in writing for accreditation and submit information on— (i) the education and training programme to be provided; and (ii) how it will meet the prescribed standards and conditions for education and training; (b) furnish the Council with any additional information required by the Council for purposes of accreditation of the education and training programme; and (c) pay the prescribed fee.” The Higher Education Act of 1997 assigns responsibility for quality assurance in higher education in South Africa to the Council on Higher Education (CHE). This responsibility is discharged through its permanent sub-committee, the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC). The mandate of the HEQC includes quality promotion, institutional audit and programme accreditation. The HEQC’s criteria for programme accreditation should be used as the basis for an institution’s self-evaluation of the programme(s) submitted for accreditation, along with additional benchmarks which the institution might set for itself. The HEQC will use the criteria, the self-evaluation report and supporting evidence provided by the institution, in the evaluation of applications for programme accreditation (new programmes) or reaccreditation (existing programmes). 3. SCOPE AND PRIMARY FOCUS OF SOUTH AFRICAN NURSING COUNCIL All providers/applicant provider organizations that fall within the scope of the SANC and which offer education and training programmes which culminate in specified qualifications or who manage the assessment thereof, or both, must be accredited by the South African Nursing Council, as stipulated in the Nursing Act, 2005 (Act No. 33 of 2005), section 42, in order to offer such education and training and assessment. In this regard, the SANC will only: | accredit constituent providers that fall within its primary focus area | | perform both institutional and learning programme accreditation for constituent providers in co-operation with Higher Education Quality Committee | | perform education and training or assessment in terms of specific NQF qualifications that fall within its scope |
4. GENERAL CRITERIA FOR ACCREDITATION OF PROGRAMME The conformance criteria that are set by SANC are as follows: | Programme design | | Student recruitment, admission and selection | | Staff selection, appraisal and development | | Teaching and learning strategy | | Learning programmes | | Student assessment and procedures | | Physical, administrative and financial resources | | Management of clinical practice learning | | Management of assessment and moderation | | Appeal process | | Record keeping and reporting | | Quality management system |
HEQC has set the following criteria: | Programme design | | Student recruitment, admission and selection | | Staffing | | Teaching and learning strategy | | Student assessment and procedures | | Infrastructure and library resources | | Programme administrative services | | Post graduate policies, regulations and procedures | | Programme coordination | | Academic development for student success | | Teaching and learning interactions | | Student assessment practices | | Coordination of work-based learning | | Delivery of post basic programmes | | Student retention and throughput rates | | Programme impact |
5. ACCREDITATION PROCESS All prospective providers will be treated as new applicants as these will be new qualifications. Approach to accreditation is based on: | Self-evaluation against general criteria and specific requirements specified in the relevant occupational curriculum components (subjects and or modules) | | A culture of self-regulation and strong links to relevant professional, occupational and industry bodies and associations will be encouraged to maintain and raise standards. The process includes the following steps which can lead to provisional, conditional or full accreditation of the provider: (See flowcharts below) |
Click here to see SANC ACCREDITATION PROCESS flowchart Click here to see CHE ACCREDITATION PROCESS flowchart 6. OUTCOMES OF ACCREDITATION The review panel first evaluates the programme(s) against each individual criterion as set out in the Criteria for Programme Accreditation. The following categories are used to classify the results in each instance: a) Commend/Accredit: the minimum standards specified in the criterion were fully met and, in addition, good practices and innovation were identified in relation to the criterion b) Meets minimum standards/Accredit: Minimum standards as specified in the criteria were met c) Needs improvement/ accredit provisionally: Did not comply with all the minimum standards specified in the criterion. Problems/weaknesses could be addressed in a short period of time d) Does not comply/ Not accredited: Did not comply with the majority of the minimum standards specified in the criterion 7. PERIOD OF ACCREDITATION SANC: New programmes will be accredited as follows: | New one and two year programmes may be accredited for a maximum of three years. | | New programmes with a duration of three years and longer may be accredited for a maximum of six years |
HEQC: New programmes will be accredited as follows: | New one and two year programmes may be accredited for a maximum of three years. | | New programmes with a duration of three years and longer may be accredited for a maximum of six years |
8. HANDLING OF AN APPLICATION THAT DOES NOT MEET ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENTS Office of the Council sends a letter giving prospective provider another three (3) months to rectify outstanding requirements Prospective provider may apply for an extension of up to an additional three (3) months 9. HANDLING OF RE-SUBMISSION OF AN APPLICATION Office of the Council reviews re-submission and decides on the following: | to send re-submission to Accreditation committee | | to schedule further accreditation visit; or | | to decline application |
10. APPEALS Appeals are dealt with in line with the Appeals Policy and Procedure. An applicant provider or organisation may access the SANC Appeals Policy and Procedure should the organisation be dissatisfied with any of the following during the accreditation process: | the accreditation decision | | the accreditation process itself; or | | the evidence requirements for accreditation |
NB: The policy stipulates time frames for appeals. If no appeal is forthcoming within the specified period, the results will be accepted as final and binding. 11. PROVIDER MONITORING AND AUDITS Providers will receive a monitoring visit in the first year after accreditation and will be audited at least once per accreditation period. Additional monitoring and auditing will take place at the discretion of SANC. Such monitoring and auditing can take place without prior notice. 
Any queries regarding above-mentioned circular must be directed to: Dr. S. W. Mkhize: Senior Manager: Education and Training Phone: 012 420-1022 E-mail: smkhize@sanc.co.za Signed
Mr. T. Mabuda
Registrar and CEO
South African Nursing Council | 