A collaborative process for widening access for TVET college students to a health sciences faculty at a university in the Western Cape

Abstract

To address South Africa's history of inequality in educational opportunities, access to education, and programme completion, it is necessary to implement measures that widen access to higher education for previously excluded individuals. Alternate access to higher education through recognition of prior learning, and the success of this practice, has been reported by many South African higher education institutions. An area associated with alternate access that has not enjoyed the same degree of success and empirical recognition, is the seamless transition and successful completion of students from a Technical Vocational Education and Training college to a higher education institution. The aim of this paper is to present the process for opening access for Technical Vocational Education and Training students to the Bachelor of Nursing Extended Curricula Programme through the collaboration between the Community and Health Sciences Faculty at a university and a Technical Vocational Education and Training College. The processes include negotiation, collaboration, curriculum alignment, selection and registration that were undertaken to widen access for these students to higher education. The process of opening access was found to be a viable approach to ensure student access and success. The outcome could provide a reliable pathway for future candidates from similar backgrounds to articulate from the colleges into higher education institutions.