North-West University to Launch Desmond Tutu School of Medicine in 2028
Image: North-West University
North-West University (NWU) is set to establish the Desmond Tutu School of Medicine at its Potchefstroom Campus, with the first intake of medical students expected in January 2028.
The university’s Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) programme has been accredited by the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the Council on Higher Education (CHE), bringing the planned medical school closer to becoming a reality.
The medical school, which is currently under construction, has been named the Desmond Tutu School of Medicine in honour of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu. According to the university, the school will be guided by values associated with its namesake, including compassion, justice, integrity and service.
The MBChB programme will be offered in contact mode at the university’s Potchefstroom Campus. NWU said its curriculum and clinical training model are being designed to produce doctors who are “clinically competent, ethically grounded and responsive to the realities of South Africa’s healthcare system.”
As part of the programme, the university will establish partnerships with the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS). These partnerships will support the academic, clinical and laboratory components required to train medical students.
The university said the accreditation process involved extensive planning, coordination and documentation by teams across NWU. This included submitting detailed information on clinical rotation modules, assessment practices, exit-level outcomes and opportunities for articulation within and across the university.
The university’s plans to establish a medical school date back to 2017. Once completed and operational, the Desmond Tutu School of Medicine will become the sixth school within the relevant faculty at NWU and the university’s first medical school, while adding to South Africa’s existing network of medical schools.
The university said the establishment of the school represents a significant step towards addressing the country’s healthcare needs by training doctors equipped to respond to the realities of South Africa’s healthcare system.