Public Emergency Medical Services Colleges to offer qualifications registered on the National Qualification Framework from January 2022
The Minister of Higher Education Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, published a Government Gazette permitting designated public emergency medical services education institutions, commonly known as emergency medical services colleges, to offer accredited emergency medical care qualifications registered on the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) of the National Qualification Framework from January 2022.
The nine public emergency medical services colleges listed in the Gazette will be permitted to offer certificates, diplomas and degrees until such a time that these institutions are declared as public higher education colleges in terms of the Higher Education Act.
In order to offer these qualifications, these colleges should meet the accreditation requirements of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPSCA), and should be registered on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).
This means that any Higher Certificates (120C), Diplomas (240C or 360C), Advanced Diplomas (120C), Post Graduate Diplomas (120C), or Bachelor’s Degrees (360C or 480C) that are accredited and registered to any of these nine public emergency medical services Colleges may be offered.
Minister Nzimande said the Emergency Medical Services Colleges are the primary platform for emergency medical care education and training in our country and they are pivotal for producing emergency medical care personnel to support our public health sector.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that the public Emergency Medical Services Colleges are effectively integrated into the higher education and training landscape and that they are able to offer their aligned qualifications next year,” said Minister Nzimande.
Minister Nzimande said that both the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) are confident that the public Emergency Medical Services Colleges will continue with their important work and admit a new cohort of students from 2022 onwards into their new accredited HEQSF registered qualifications.
Enquiries:
Ishmael Mnisi
Cell: 066 037 8859
Popo Maja
Cell: 072 585 3219
