News

631 students graduate from Netcare Education’s Gauteng South West campus

”A success story for education and healthcare in our country”

Friday, April 3 2015

Netcare Education’s South West Campus in Auckland Park recently held a graduation ceremony for 631 students who have achieved various nursing qualifications. This represents a 15% increase in the number of graduates compared to the previous year.

Shannon Nell, director nursing and nursing education at Netcare, says there were 342 students who qualified as enrolled nurses and 227 received diplomas in general nursing. In addition, 21 individuals received post-basic diplomas in various fields of specialisation, including operating theatre nursing, critical care nursing, and trauma and emergency nursing, and 41 received post-basic in-service certificates of competence.

Sandile Mbele, regional director for Netcare Gauteng South West, congratulated the graduates, saying: “Your graduation is a success story not only for you personally but also for Netcare, for education in our country and for healthcare in general. It is a privilege and honour to share in this momentous occasion with you.”

PIC: At the recent Netcare Education Gauteng South West campus graduation, the Netcare Education Silver Medal was awarded to Moira Relent Bafana of Netcare Milpark Hospital Special achievements and awards

“Some of our students did exceptionally well. Twenty of our students who graduated as enrolled nurses passed with honours, while five of the students who qualified as general nurses passed with honours. This means that their average mark for each component of the course, whether theoretical or clinical, was above 75%,” says Nell.

She adds, “Two of the students who received post-basic in-service certificates, Nqobile Siziba and Madeleine Koekemoer, graduated summa cum laude, while another four students graduated with honours. This means that Nqobile and Madeleine achieved 75% or above for every single assessment, whether theoretical or clinical. This is an incredible achievement.”

Special prizes were also awarded to a number of students:

  • The Enrolled Nurse Academic Award was won by Rosaline Narhnkup Nyesa of Netcare Rosebank Hospital.
  • The Netcare Education Silver Medal was awarded to Moira Relent Bafana of Netcare Milpark Hospital.
  • Nqobile Siziba of Netcare Milpark Hospital received the Six-month Post-basic Programme Academic Award (for registered nurses) for the cluster of critical care, trauma and emergency, operating room skills, anaesthetic and recovery room, and infection prevention nursing.
  • The Six-month Post-basic Programme Academic Award (for registered nurses) for the cluster neonatal critical care, childcare, maternity, cardiothoracic and cardiovascular intervention nursing was won by Madeleine Koekemoer of Netcare Olivedale Hospital.
  • The Netcare Education Campus Manager’s Award for the student who best epitomises the Netcare values both in her job in a Netcare hospital and at campus went to Bonisile Grace Cele of Netcare Linksfield Hospital.

 A dream come true for Nomvula Grace Mathambo

Many of the graduates overcame incredible odds to achieve their qualification. One of these students was Nomvula Grace Mathambo, who started out working as a cleaner when she first came to Johannesburg in 2001. While working she saved money to do a security course so that she could become a security guard. It was in this position at Netcare Education’s Gauteng South West campus that the thought of a career in nursing first entered Grace’s mind.

“I was handing out application forms to prospective nursing students in 2005 when I told myself that I could also be a nurse one day. So I started saving money to do a nursing course. It took me four years to save the money and in 2010 I started my first year as a nursing student,” says Grace.

In May the following year Grace got a job as an auxiliary nurse at Netcare Garden City Hospital’s paediatric ward and this year she graduated as an enrolled nurse. “My next goal is to finish the bridging course next year to qualify as a registered general nurse. I am so blessed to have the support of my family and Netcare.”

Netcare Education, which was established 26 years ago, has two campuses in Gauteng and one campus each in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. Netcare Education’s Faculty of Nursing and Ancillary Healthcare (FNAH) is accredited by the South African Nursing Council (SANC) as a private nursing education institution and has provisional registration with the Department of Higher Education.

A total of 1 574 nursing and emergency and critical care students will graduate from these Netcare Education campuses during July and in August.

Ends

Issued by: Martina Nicholson Associates (MNA) on behalf of Netcare Education
Contact : Martina Nicholson, Graeme Swinney, Sarah Wilson or Meggan Saville
Telephone: (011) 469 3016
Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]