FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES

School of Health Care Sciences

Students benefit from state-of-the-art facilities, hands-on training, and a curriculum designed to meet the dynamic demands of the healthcare industry

Contributing significantly to the search for solutions for the African population.

The School of Health Care Sciences (SHCS) comprises five departments: Pharmacy, Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Public Health, Optometry, and Nursing Science. The Office of the Director provides strategic leadership to these departments to ensure efficient operations in various aspects of finding solutions for the African population. The strategic focus is directly related to the main activities of the university, which include teaching and learning, research, and community engagement. Therefore, the School ensures that the imperatives of the National System of Innovation, as directed by the National Department of Science and Innovation, are also considered during the delivery of these areas to students and community members.

Furthermore, the school addresses the National Development Plan imperatives, which identify Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) as critical for creating a competitive and sustainable economy and addressing societal challenges such as education and health. It advocates for a robust, coordinated, coherent, and effective STI system that fosters networks and partnerships among various actors in the public and private sectors, contributes to transformation, and acknowledges a diversity of knowledge production sites beyond higher education.

Furthermore, the School promotes the idea that knowledge should be shared as widely as possible throughout society and calls for increased government spending on research and development to expand STI outputs. As a result, the governmental Clinical Grant awarded to the Departments of Optometry, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Human Nutrition and Dietetics contributes significantly to the School’s strategic objectives.

These objectives fully support experiential learning as a formal approach to teaching and learning. Students gain experience through cooperative education placements, practicum experiences, and classroom-based hands-on laboratory activities in this activity. As a result, the School views experiential learning as an important complement to traditional approaches to teaching and learning in its disciplines. Competent Pharmacists, Optometrists, Dieticians, Nurses, and Public Health professionals are produced, contributing significantly to the search for solutions for the African population.