How To Become A Nurse In South Africa (2025)

How to become a nurse in South Africa. A lot of South Africans are asking this question. Nursing is one of the most prestigious professions in the world likewise South Africa. It’s a skill with a ready job market where the South African government is increasingly in need of the workforce to boost healthcare in the country.

Nevertheless, nursing is one of the professions that require special skills and knowledge. Nurses are taken through a period of training, teaching and learning of both knowledge-base and practical education.

So, if you’re one of the many who is interested in becoming a nurse in South Africa and making nursing a profession, then you’re on the right page.

In this article, you’re going to learn how to become a nurse in South Africa. Take time and read this article to gather the knowledge you need.

this is the process to become a nurse in south africa

Table of Contents

How To Become A Nurse In South Africa

To become a nurse in South Africa, there are important things you need. These are the critical educational requirements to help you build a nursing career in the South African healthcare system.

Apply to a SANC accredited nursing education institution
Meet the qualification to study nursing
Choose a nursing program to study
Graduate from your education and training
Pass the final test
Become a member of SANC
Complete the CPD criteria

Now, let’s dive into the bullet points and elaborate each one of them.

1. Apply To A SANC Accredited Nursing Education Institution

To become a nurse in South Africa, interested persons must enrol into an accredited nursing education institution for training. There are lots of nursing colleges, universities and schools across provinces in the country.

Candidates have the option to apply to a private nursing education institution, a public nursing education institution, or a university to study the nursing course of their choice.

However, it is important, and crucial to achieving your professional dream as a nurse that you apply to only nursing education institutions that is accredited by SANC.

The South African Nursing Council (SANC) is the body mandated to set and maintain standards of nursing education and practice in the Republic of South Africa. It is the sole autonomous body that gives licence to educational institutions to teach and train nurses in South Africa.

Again, you should know that all nursing education institutions must be registered and have accreditation to operate as nursing education institutions. This includes private, public and university education institutions offering nursing courses to student.

Under no circumstance must you apply to an institution for nursing education which is not registered and accredited by the South African Nursing Council (SANC).

2. Meet the qualification to study nursing

The next stage on how to become a nurse in South Africa is meeting the qualification to study nursing. In South Africa, different nursing education institutions have different entry requirements for nursing professionals.

To meet the qualification in most nursing education institutions in South Africa, candidates qualify to study with their National Senior Certificate (NSC) with a minimum of 4 (50%) in each of the following subjects.

English
Mathematics
Life Science
Home Language.

These are the basic subject requirements to qualify to study a nursing program in most South African nursing education institutions.

Additionally, you might need to take several subjects in higher grades.

3. Choose A Nursing Program To Study

After meeting the basic nursing requirements, the next step on how to become a nurse in South Africa is choosing a nursing program to study for a nursing qualification.

There are several nursing programs offered by various institutions. Depending your qualification and interest, nursing educations offer these programs.

Higher Certificate in Auxiliary Nursing
Diploma in Nursing
Bachelor in nursing
Advanced Diploma in Midwifery

Before any nursing education institution will enrol you into their centre, you must choose one or two nursing programs depending on the options in the application form of the institution.

4. Graduate From Your Nursing Education And Training

The next stage on how to become a nurse in South Africa is to complete your nursing program after enrolling to study the course you choose in the institution that offered you study admission.

Each of the nursing programs in South Africa has its graduating timeline. Your graduation period therefore depend on the program you choose to study.

Here are the study period of the nursing programs in South Africa.

Higher Certificate in Auxiliary Nursing – 1 year
Diploma in Nursing – 3 years
Bachelor in Nursing – 4 years
Advanced Diploma In Midwifery – 1 year (after completing a 3-year course as a registered nurse)

5. Pass the Final Test

The fifth stage of how to become a nurse in South Africa is to pass the final test. To be certified with your qualification as a trained nurse in the field you chose to study, you must pass the final graduation test which is mostly conducted at the end of the final year of the nursing program you studied.

Once you pass the final test, your institution will certify you as a graduating student with the qualification in the field of the study you did.

6. Become A Member SANC

After graduating the nursing program, the next stage on how to become a nurse in South Africa is registering with the South African Nursing Council (SANC).

All nurses who wish to work in the South Africa must be registered and certified by the South African Nursing Council (SANC).

Mostly, candidates will sit for a SANC exam and pass before they are registered by SANC as professional licensed nurses and midwives who qualify to work in the South African healthcare sector.

Moreover, candidates will pay an annual registration fee to the South African Nursing Council (SANC) to keep their names in the SANC register and their licenses active.

7. Complete The CPD Criteria

Nurses working in South Africa needs to meet the necessary CPD criteria. Nurses are required to complete a set amount of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours for Nurses and Midwives each year.

Additional Qualities You Need To become A Nurse In South Africa

Aside the educational qualifications set by the instituted bodies of government, people who want to become a nurse need these qualities on the personal and individual level.

1. Be A Caring Person:

Working in the healthcare sector needs a lot of empathy and compassion. If you’re not caring, you must encounter frustrations working on patients.

Therefore, being a naturally caring person will tremendously help to improve your nursing career because, naturally caring people are inclined to tend to peoples need which is mostly needed at hospitals and healthcare centres.

2. Good Communication Skills:

Nurses must have a good communication skills. A good communication skills solves lots of patients issues on the talking level. Trying to know your patients on the personal level but carefully sticking to professionalism helps them to open up to share their conditions so that you know how to report to the doctor in charge.

Moreover, having a good communication with fellow nurses, doctors, and the hospital staff helps you in the long term of your career.

3. Attention To Details:

As a professional nurse, you must have attention to details which is highly recommended in your field of work. Attention to details is in no doubt needed from a nurse as this helps to take care of medication prescription, medication amount, care procedures and patent’s need are many but few things you must need to pay detail attention to be successful at.

4. Willingness To Learn And Improve:

Nursing is a career where everything is improving rapidly. In fact, medicine is a continuously fast-pace advancing field where nurses are require to improve themselves with their knowledge and skills to meet the current advancement.

A great nurse always shows willingness to learn know advancements and the ability to put the know knowledge into practice.

5. Keeping Up To Date On Qualification:

As mentioned earlier, South African nurses are required to renew their license to practice every year with the South African Nursing Council (SANC). Therefore, to become a successful nurse in South Africa, nurses need to keep their qualification up to date.

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