WSU degree not recognised by health body for 10 years
● Former students demand programme be closed as they cannot find jobs with ‘useless’ qualification
Walter Sisulu University has been offering a programme, described as useless by past graduates and slated by health academics for its lack of utility, without the required professional recognition for 10 years.
The university’s Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion is not registered by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) and a senior university employee who asked not to be named confirmed that thousands of students were affected.
Former students have demanded that the university close the programme if it cannot be registered, saying it was useless because they struggled to find employment with an unrecognised degree.
A former senior WSU academic echoed their sentiments.
Professor Marina Xaba-Mokoena, who established and headed WSU’s medical faculty for 10 years until 1994, said the programme was irrelevant.
“I don’t know who came up with the idea of this programme because, after graduation, you are neither a nurse nor a doctor.
“I was against it when I heard about it and it was never established during my tenure.
“This programme existed long ago, in the 1950s.
“I was never in favour of this thing.
“When I started the medical faculty I wanted to train doctors or health professionals who would be recognised by the HPCSA,” Xaba-Mokoena said.
Possible employment opportunities for BSc in health promotion graduates include roles such as community liaison officers overseeing social mobilisation, awareness and education campaigns to promote vaccinations and the training of staff or officials on health-related issues.
Several students said they had enrolled because other programmes, such as nursing and medicine, were full and viewed the course as a possible bridge to those programmes.
Students pay about R120,000 in fees for the threeyear programme.
“I was told by some university officials that this was a good programme as someone was able to work with the community on health-related matters after graduating,” one graduate said.
The BSc in health promotion programme is also offered at an honours and master’s level.
WSU registrar Dr Lulamile Ntonzima admitted the programme was not registered with the HPCSA.
Under the former Transkei homeland system, during the University of Transkei era, the programme was offered as the diploma in health education registered under the erstwhile Transkeian Medical Council, before the merging of Unitra, the Border Technikon and Eastern Cape Technikon.
According to WSU, the health promotion programme “prepares individuals in attaining scientific knowledge of empowering people to have the ability to manage and improve their health”.
But many students said they struggled to find employment after graduating.
A student who is enrolled in the programme at postgraduate level expressed shock at discovering it was not registered with the HPCSA.
“I asked the authorities and the response was that the BSc in health promotion was previously registered with the Transkeian Medical Council.
“After 1994, the programme was never registered with the relevant bodies.”
Another former student said: “Our university is playing hide-and-seek instead of telling us when they will register the programme.
“What we want now is for the university to stop offering this programme until its registration with a relevant body.
“This is a useless programme.”
Another graduate said: “I graduated with this programme over 10 years ago.
“I was never employed and there are so many of us who remain unemployed.”
The HPCSA confirmed that the programme was not registered with it.
“In a letter dated April 18 2012 addressed to WSU, the HPCSA resolved that it was in support [of establishing] a register for health promoters and that the application be referred to the Professional Board for Environmental Health Practitioners for opening of the register,” HPCSA spokesperson Christopher Tsatsawane said.
Ten years later, the health promotion programme is still not registered.
Correspondence between WSU and the health watchdog, dating back to 2012, reveals that the university pleaded for the programme’s registration.
In March 2012, WSU wrote to the HPCSA, resubmitting its registration application.
In October that year, the HPCSA responded: “There was a legal process that needed to be followed to establish the register for health promoters, and that regulations pertaining to register establishments need to be drafted as the promulgation process can take a very long time.”
Ntonzima said: “The HPCSA has not included the BSc in health promotion qualification on its list of registrable qualifications.
“WSU has been in ongoing consultation with the HPCSA and the national department of health to reconcile the qualification with the requirements for professional registration.”
Provincial health spokesperson Yonela Dekeda said health promoters played a key role in training and mentoring ward-based primary healthcare outreach teams and in strengthening and re-engineering primary heathcare.