Division of Nursing and Midwifery launches new Postgraduate Diplomas in Midwifery and Child Nursing

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Division of Nursing and Midwifery marked a historic milestone with the official launch of its Postgraduate Diplomas in Midwifery and in Child Nursing on 7 April 2025. This achievement, the culmination of a rigorous five-year accreditation process with the South African Nursing Council (SANC), the Council on Higher Education (CHE), and the university’s internal quality assurance structures, reflects the Division’s commitment to advancing specialist nursing education in South Africa.

The launch was celebrated alongside the annual global observances of the International Day of the Midwife (5 May) and International Nurses’ Day (12 May). These significant dates framed a commemorative event hosted by the Division on 6 May 2025 at Groote Schuur Hospital, the home of UCT’s Nursing and Midwifery programmes since 1935.

The event, opened by UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mosa Moshabela, carried the theme “Perspectives to Enrich the Global Nursing and Midwifery Landscape — From South to North”. Past and present staff and alumni, students of the Division, and colleagues from the wider university and health sector were brought together to reflect on the Division’s legacy and envision its future contribution to health care.

The Division currently offers a diverse suite of specialist programmes, including Midwifery, Child Nursing, Nephrology Nursing, Ophthalmic Nursing, Child Critical Care Nursing, and Adult Critical Care Nursing. Speaking at the event, Dr Tania de Villiers, Head of the Division of Nursing and Midwifery, highlighted the transformative impact these programmes are designed to have on communities. She noted that curricula are informed by the specific needs of the communities that graduates will serve, ensuring that the Division’s teaching, learning and research enterprise translates directly into improved health outcomes. Dr de Villiers illustrated this impact with the story of a graduate from the PGDip in Ophthalmic Nursing programme who established an eye clinic on the West Coast. This initiative has prevented blindness and created a vital referral pathway, bringing essential services to one of the region’s most underserved communities.

Under Dr de Villiers’ leadership, the Division is embracing transformational teaching, learning, management and leadership. While it currently offers only postgraduate diplomas, master’s, and doctoral programmes, she has expressed her vision of

reintroducing a bachelor’s degree in nursing at UCT, thereby strengthening the pipeline of nurse and midwife leaders.

The Division of Nursing and Midwifery, formerly a standalone Department of Nursing, was incorporated into the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences in the early 1990s as part of UCT’s broader restructuring process. Its long-standing history, coupled with renewed vision, positions it as a leader in shaping the future of nursing and midwifery education in South Africa.

The launch event was widely praised by participants for its spirit of encouragement and inspiration, reinforcing the Division’s call to pursue excellence and innovation in the training of nurses and midwives who will make a tangible difference in communities across the country.