This new service-learning module which forms part of the Bachelor of Nursing degree implemented for the first time in 2011.

In the academic year 2012, this year-long module started with the implementation in the first semester, and continued all year round.

During this period, the students carried out research projects within the community. The implementation went well; the students were at all times accompanied by the community representatives, and their course convenors.

The Faculty has entered into a partnership with Nyandeni Health Sub-District involving all of the salient functions of an institution of higher learning: education, research, community engagement and service delivery.

The partnership involves various activities which can be broadly described as:

• the identification of challenges in the delivery of health services in the sub-district
• the performance of a situational analysis
• the identification of priorities for intervention and the implementation of these intervention strategies
• the further development and improvement of students’ community-based learning, and then the replication of the lessons learnt in other health districts.