The PathCare Academy for training and development
The PathCare Academy for Training and Development was established in Cape Town in February 2006 with the aim to help address the South African skills shortage in general and shortages in the pathology sector in particular.
The Academy offers a number of full-length programmes (varying in duration from two months to two years) for new entrants into the labour market: learnerships, certificate programmes, work/study programmes, and internships provide individuals with opportunities to acquire knowledge and skills in professional, technical and support areas of health care. Programmes provide learners, interns, and students (hereinafter referred to as students) with a balance of theoretical knowledge gained in classroom situations and practical knowledge gained in real work stations. Qualified professional staff lecture, train and supervise the students throughout the programmes.
Students pay no tuition or study fees, but are rather paid a monthly stipend to work for PathCare under supervision in their chosen field while they learn. Upon completion of programmes, successful students take up full-time employment at PathCare.
As over 90% of all Academy students have come from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, the Academy is also addressing another of its aims, which is to assist the organisation with meeting employment equity targets, and more broadly to provide opportunities to individuals who were historically disadvantaged in our society, as a part of PathCare's social investment initiatives.
Short courses at the Academy are grouped into three development pillars; namely, technical expertise, quality service, and business capacity. Through a combination of utilising Academy trainers, PathCare internal experts, and outsourced providers, some 50 different courses are available in the Academy Prospectus during any given semester. The business capacity pillar also contains the PathCare Management Development Programme which is a modular programme made available to existing managers and individuals targeted to be managers of the future.
The PathCare Academy will continue to endeavour to provide quality training to deserving individuals and to provide more development opportunities for the previously disadvantaged in support of the greater skills revolution in South Africa.
Please find further information on Academy programmes, short courses, and students in the following pages.
In addition to the above-mentioned full-time programmes, the Academy also facilitates the skills development needs of PathCare and helps provide training for the more than 2000 permanently employed PathCare staff members throughout South Africa. PathCare has played a leading role in skills development in the pathology sector through early involvement in the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority and the South African Qualifications Authority. PathCare Workplace Skills Plans and Annual Training Reports have been successfully implemented and approved every year since the inception of the Skills Development Act. Each year (on average) over 3500 short course participants have benefited from the many and varied programmes on offer.
Head The PathCare Academy for Training and Development
