The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) is entrusted to ensuring the quality and standardisation of healthcare education within the country. Central to this mission is the review of foreign curricula intended for accreditation. The process of reviewing foreign curricula is multifaceted, encompassing a meticulous examination of various aspects including academic content, faculty qualifications, learning outcomes, and alignment with HPCSA regulations and standards.
Purpose of curriculum review
To determine foreign curriculum equivalence with its South African counterpart.
Requirements for submission, documentation and evidence to be submitted
The following are the requirements for the curriculum review:
- Detailed curriculum specifying content, subject covered per year and assessment methods.
- Summary of the curricular in a table format specifying the hours of the curriculums
- Letter of recognition from the medical council/regulator, signed and stamped.
- Letter of recognition from the department of health/education, signed and stamped.
Click here for the full check-list.
Process of curriculum review
- The process of the curriculum review process is triggered by the Registrations Division forwarding an application for registration from foreign qualified applicant who is required to write the Board examination before registration.
- Education and Training Division upon receipt of an application for a foreign qualified applicant(s) whose programme obtained from a foreign institution is not on the list of recognised/ approved programmes/institutions the applicant(s) will then be advised of the curriculum review process.
- Upon receipt of complaint documents from the applicant(s) the Education and Training Division prepares an agenda item and submit to the Executive Company Secretary for inclusion in the agenda of the task team meeting (meetings are scheduled quarterly)
- The Curriculum Review Task Team reviews the documents for compliance and makes recommendations to the Medical Education, Training and Registrations Committee (METRC).
- The METRC considers the recommendations of the Task Team and submits the resolutions to the Board for noting.
- The Education and Training Division communicates the resolutions of the METRC to the applicants(s).
Duration of foreign curricula recognition
A programme offered at the foreign institution is recognised/approved for a period of three (3) years thereafter, all applications from the institution that does not appear on the list must undergo the curriculum review process again.
The list of recognised foreign universities is available on the HPCSA website.
Reasons for delays in finalisation of curriculum review
The following are the delays in finalisation of the curriculum review process:
- Non-submission of complaint documents from applicants
- Submission of website listings instead of authentic documents from the foreign institutions
- Non-submission of signed, dated, and stamped recognition letters from the National Department of Health/Education and the letter from medical council/regulator.
- Applicants experiencing difficulties in obtaining the curriculum documents from their respective foreign universities.
More information
Visit the Registration section on the HPCSA website for additional information. Practitioners requiring specific information can log a service request through the HPCSA self-service portal.
Last Updated on 16 May 2024 by HPCSA Corporate Affairs