The promise of a job after completing short study courses and limitations on new intakes at colleges and universities are driving prospective nursing students to unregistered institutions. 

Higher education spokesperson Fanie Ngoma says while it is not clear how many bogus colleges exist, it’s an issue the department takes seriously. 

“The challenge is there and we need to be vigilant at all times. To fight bogus nursing colleges the government’s long-term strategy is to strengthen the regulations and the oversight,” Ngoma says. 

The body responsible for the regulation and oversight of nursing education is the South African Nursing Council (SANC). Speaking to Health-e News, Professor Ntombifikile Mtshali, SANC Registrar and CEO, says in addition to the promise of employment, these unregistered colleges offer diplomas that are as short as six months. A basic nursing diploma in South Africa needs at least three years to complete, while the shortest nurse practitioner course takes one year. 

“These bogus colleges deprive prospective students of the opportunity to train at accredited nursing colleges and hinder the production of qualified nurses,” she says.

South Africa faces a critical shortage of nurses, a situation worsened by an ageing workforce and high levels of migration among qualified nurses. The shortage of healthcare professionals is particularly profound in rural areas.

“South African public healthcare is facing a severe shortage of qualified nurses as government hospitals are under immense strain. We cannot afford to have prospective nursing students wasting their time at bogus colleges,” says Mtshali. 

Limited space at nursing schools

According to the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA), changes introduced by SANC in 2020 have seen reductions in the spaces available to nursing students at higher education institutions. 

“When the new nursing curriculum was introduced in 2020 all the nursing institutions had to be reassessed to ensure that appropriate numbers are allocated to each institution in line with the ability it can handle. Upon assessment by SANC it was discovered that infrastructure can only accommodate the lower numbers of students,” Delihlazo says. 

He says for instance the Baragwanath Nursing College that used to take about 300 nursing students was allocated to take about 100  students. In 2019 there were  2917 enrolled at nursing colleges across the country; a number that decreased to 2579 in 2020, 1513 in 2021, and 1468 in 2022. 

“For DENOSA this is a call for concern as it limits the number of students interested in nursing studies. Some of these students find themselves outside legitimate nursing institutions. This, we believe, may create a window of opportunity for the bogus colleges to flourish,” Delihlazo says.

Delihlazo says it’s difficult to follow up on bogus colleges as they open in a new location as soon as authorities shut them down. The long-term consequences are dire for the thousands of students who would have wasted their time and money on unregistered courses. 

“They would never be allowed to practice as nurses in South Africa,” he says.

Mtshali says SANC issues alerts to media platforms to warn prospective students about bogus colleges, and how to identify them. She says students must validate the existence of a college before enrollment.

“The SANC uses Nursing Indaba and stakeholders meetings as platforms to disseminate information. There are also career exhibitions where prospective students are alerted. 

Verify your institution

The SANC website has a list of all institutions that are accredited to offer nursing education programmes. South Africa has 119 accredited nursing education institutions which include 35 private colleges, 65 public colleges and 19 universities.

The SANC website provides information on all the institutions by province as well as the programmes they offer. 

Students can report suspicious institutions through the SANC fraud hotline at 0800201216. – Health-e News