Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Health and Wellness Sciences

The vision of the Faculty is to be a proud African technology-driven faculty taking the lead in health and wellness education, research and innovation in response to provincial, national and global socio-economic imperatives. We believe that the distinction will be found in the academic quality, the continuous quest for excellence and the responsiveness to the public that the Faculty serves. We believe that the reputation of the Faculty will attract scholars from all over the world, especially from the rest of the African continent. We have the confidence that Faculty research and scholarship will keep instruction, in all its forms, at the leading edge of the discipline and this will afford special learning opportunities for students. We have the conviction that teaching and training responsiveness will help to orient knowledge-generating activities toward the users of knowledge.

The mission of the Faculty is to empower agile graduate health care professionals who are ethically responsive to industry and societal needs, through academic excellence and lifelong learning together with the pursuit of relevant and pioneering research and clinical innovation which will improve the health of individuals both locally and globally. We aim to provide high-quality discipline-based programmes in health and wellness sciences, designed to prepare students for responsible positions in the service sector, the related health sector, education, government and research as well as being self-employed in their trained disciplines. To achieve the mission, all activities in the Faculty are directed towards the development of appropriate strategies for transferring research and teaching knowledge to society; the provision of the full spectrum of opportunities for learners to develop academically and socially; the establishment of the platform for learners to be enterprising employees; the development of students as knowledge workers who are creative, adaptable and on a path of continuous learning; and, the recognition and reaction to the rapid changes that continually reshape society.

The Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences has seven Departments: Biomedical Sciences, Dental Sciences, Emergency Medical Sciences, Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences, Nursing Science, Ophthalmic Sciences and Wellness Sciences. There is a range of programmes offered, which include degrees, diplomas and master’s qualifications, and some departments offer a doctoral programme.

All of the programmes that are currently presented by the Faculty are unique to CPUT with the exception of undergraduate Nursing Science. There is a significant shortage of skilled personnel for most of the health science disciplines both in the public and private sector. The programmes in the Faculty are in the family of the applied and allied health sciences and each one of these is not only technologically driven but designed to be responsive to diagnostic and therapeutic health delivery in the most efficient and effective manner. The very nature of our programmes complements the curative health science programmes offered by the medical and dental schools of the other universities.

The programmes lend themselves to the philosophy of a University of Technology because they are responsive in a direct way to provide communities with health professionals who are trained in the most technologically advanced methods and techniques to perform their function.

Requesting all students registered for AY2022 to please complete the form:

https://forms.gle/WLaea1V1oHq4Prdn7

2023 Orientation Booklet for Health & Wellness Sciences

The Dean's Message

A warm welcome to our newest students in the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences and to the 2021 academic year. May you enjoy your time with us in a faculty acknowledged nationally and internationally as offering high quality programmes in a wide range of professions.

I know you are preparing for the start of your university career under a challenging set of conditions, the global Covid-19 pandemic which will render 2021 different from previous years. Rest assured that even as Covid-19 continues to transform our world, the Faculty and the entire university community has and will continue to respond with ingenuity, compassion and a shared commitment to our vision and mission. The Faculty of Health & Wellness Sciences is the only university in the Western Cape that offers exclusive health programmes that are registered by the Health Profession Council of South Africa (HPCSA). These include, Biomedical Sciences (4 -Year degree in Medical Laboratory Sciences); Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences, Dental Sciences (1-Year Higher Certificate: Dental Assisting and 4- Year Degree in Dental Technology), Ophthalmic Sciences and Emergency Medical Sciences (1-Year Higher Certificate: Emergency Medical Care, 2-Year Diploma in Emergency Medical Care, and 4-Year Degree in Emergency Medical Care). In addition, the Faculty offers Nursing Sciences and Wellness Sciences programmes. Home to more than 3000 undergraduate and 150 postgraduate students that come from all parts of South Africa and from many countries in Africa, the Faculty offers students a journey of lifelong learning for a wide variety of careers. All who graduate with a qualification from this faculty will have the knowledge, professional competencies, attributes and values to enter professional practice and serve society. I encourage you to make use of our student-centered and nurturing facilities: tutors and skills labs, teaching assistants, mentors, literacy centre, an entire office devoted to clinical work integrated learning placements, student development to harness your soft skills, student counselling and many more.

“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever”.
- (Chinese Proverb)

As a faculty we exemplify and build on the CPUT vision of being a research led teaching institution. In this regard, the Faculty is host to the prestigious Medical Research Council (MRC) extramural unit: SAMRC/CPUT/Cardiometabolic Health Research Unit, an NRF SARChI Chair and several research units which include the Phytomedicine and Phytochemistry group and the Phytotherapy Research group. Our scientific investigations are holistic and encourage an interdisciplinary approach to understand national and regional chronic illnesses and health promotion.

Through it all, I am hopeful that you will remember to put your own health and the well-being of your fellow students and staff first. We will be communicating regularly, but today I want to emphasize a few key points:

1. We shall continue and promote the hybrid instruction model (face to face and elearning strategies) we actively adopted during Covid-19. We also understand we may need to change to other models of operation as conditions change. We assure you that we will be prepared to deliver a high-quality educational experience under all possible conditions.
2. We shall continue to enforce adherence to health and safety practices, including use of facial masks, disinfection of surfaces, social distancing, testing and tracing.

Throughout your time at CPUT, I look forward to hearing your aspirations for a bright new future and working with you to make them a reality. Once again, on behalf of the Faculty and the entire university community, we look forward to welcoming you into our Faculty and the university.

Prof T Matsha-Erasmus
Dean: Faculty of Health & Wellness Sciences

Health and Wellness Calendar 2022

CPUT is in the process of introducing new qualifications and phasing-out old ones (such as the Diploma is replacing the National Diploma, and the Advanced Diploma replacing the BTech), as required by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training. The new qualifications are introduced to align with the new Higher Education qualification sub-Framework (HEQSF) as Gazetted by the South African Department of Education on 2 August 2013. This is a requirement placed on all Higher Education institutions in an attempt to keep the curriculum relevant.

The last year Universities are allowed to register new students for the old qualifications was 2019, however, students who are currently in the process of completing these non-HEQSF aligned qualifications will be allowed sufficient time to complete in line with the Faculty rules and regulations.

Some qualifications have already been approved, some are in the final stages of approval and some are in the draft stage, and these qualifications will be loaded onto the Applications System as soon as they are fully approved.

The benchmarking process that took place during the development of these new qualifications was to ensure that the curriculum offered at CPUT can be directly compared to that of other institutions; not only nationally, but also internationally.

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