The University of the Western Cape

The stated goal of the UWC project is “to enhance the quality of nursing education and scholarship by establishment of a School of Nursing Centre for Teaching and Learning Scholarship (CENTALS) in order to facilitate and coordinate all ongoing and projected research activities, area and postgraduate students and to position the school as a centre of excellence in teaching and scholarship in the country and in Africa.” In pursuit of this vision, the UWC has established six key objectives to be pursued during the course of its involvement in the UNEDSA Programme, which are (to paraphrase):

• To strengthen the expertise of professional nurses in the health services to provide clinical support to student nurses in selected health services;
• To enhance the postgraduate output of the SON;
• To increase the scholarship and research productivity of academics at the SON;
• To review the effectiveness of the current model of nursing education delivery in the Western Cape;
• To conduct a cost benefit analysis of the Common Teaching Platform (CTP) model of nursing education delivery in the Western Cape; and
• To evaluate the impact of increased student enrolment on graduate numbers and throughput.