Key facts
- Status
- Check with the provider
- Provider
- KZN Department of Health
- Field of study
- Nursing
- Study level
- Undergraduate
- Last checked
- September 2026
The college advertises once a year, mid-year, but no advert for the next Diploma in Nursing intake was on the KZN Department of Health website when checked, and no closing date is published.
VerifiedThe KwaZulu-Natal College of Nursing (KZNCN) is the provincial Department of Health’s own nursing college, a single public college spread over 11 campuses in the province. Its main entry route for school leavers is the three-year Diploma in Nursing, known by its South African Nursing Council code R171. Students who are selected straight from school get a departmental bursary paid to them as a monthly stipend, pay only a small registration fee, and train in the department’s hospitals and clinics.
Places are filled through one advert for nurse training posts a year. The college’s R171 page says the advert appears once, in the middle of the year, on the KZN Department of Health website, in at least two newspapers and at local hospitals and clinics. We did not find an advert for the next intake on the department’s website when we checked.
What student nurses are paid and what they sign
The KZNCN Prospectus 2026 sets out the money side:
- Applying costs nothing.
- Once accepted, students register for modules and pay a minimal fee set in the college’s fee structure; registration details and fees are posted on the college and campus websites.
- Direct undergraduate students receive a bursary paid as a monthly stipend to support their studies. The prospectus does not give the amount.
- Where a student lives in hospital accommodation, the fee is paid to that hospital under the department’s fee structure.
Successful candidates sign an agreement with the Department of Health and must study full time. Work-integrated learning happens in shifts in the department’s hospitals and clinics, including nights, weekends and public holidays. The college does not publish the terms of that agreement, so read it carefully before signing. Anyone who has already received Department of Health money for training cannot be admitted.
Matric results the college asks for
The R171 intake is open to anyone living in KwaZulu-Natal who meets the minimum requirements. For learners who wrote the National Senior Certificate, the college lists:
| Requirement | Minimum |
|---|---|
| NSC pass type | Diploma pass |
| Points | 25, with Life Orientation not scored |
| English | Level 4 |
| Home Language or First Additional Language | Level 3 |
| Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy | Level 3 Maths or Level 5 Maths Literacy |
| Life Sciences or Physical Sciences | Level 4 |
| Life Orientation | Level 4 |
| Other subjects | Any two more |
Older applicants with a pre-2008 Senior Certificate need 25 points, with English, a biological or physical science and Mathematics at E on the Higher Grade or D on the Standard Grade. The advert itself repeats the requirements, and the college says applicants must follow its instructions exactly.
From advert to first lecture
The department’s nurse training guidelines set these rules for applicants:
- Apply only in the way the advert describes, uploading the documents it lists. A Z83 form is not needed at this stage.
- Do not hand-deliver an application, and do not send one to a campus, a hospital, the college or head office at Natalia.
- Only successful applicants hear back, because so many people apply.
- Shortlisted candidates write a compulsory knowledge assessment, have a medical examination and have their documents verified.
- Accepted candidates are told the start date in writing or by phone, submit a baseline medical report, pass a security check, and register with the college and the Nursing Council.
The academic year runs from January to December. Graduates who pass the Nursing Council licensure examination register as general nurses.
The ten campuses that teach the Diploma in Nursing
| Campus | Location | Telephone |
|---|---|---|
| Addington | South Beach, Durban | 031 327 2756 |
| Benedictine | Nongoma | 035 831 0760 |
| Charles Johnson Memorial | Nquthu | 034 271 0094 |
| Grey’s | Pietermaritzburg | 033 897 3503 |
| Harry Gwala | Pietermaritzburg | 033 345 9477 |
| Madadeni | Madadeni, Newcastle | 034 314 4618 |
| Ngwelezana | Empangeni | 035 794 1106 |
| Port Shepstone | Shelly Beach | 039 315 5325 |
| Prince Mshiyeni Memorial | Umlazi | 031 906 7772 |
| RK Khan | Chatsworth | 031 401 5229 |
The eleventh campus, Victoria Mxenge (formerly King Edward) in Congella, teaches only post-registration programmes such as midwifery, critical care and perioperative nursing, and those are for department staff, who are seconded on full salary. In August 2026 the department announced that SAQA had approved the college’s Bachelor of Nursing degree at NQF level 8; no intake date for it has been published.
General enquiries go to the college office in Pietermaritzburg on 033 940 4900 or Sindi.Mthalane@kznhealth.gov.za. For university study in health fields, the department’s separate KZN Department of Health bursary is covered on its own page, and more options are listed under nursing bursaries and on the KZN Department of Health profile.
FAQs
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About KZN Department of Health
Provincial government department (KwaZulu-Natal)
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health is the largest employer of health professionals in the province, running hospitals and clinics that serve urban and rural communities. The department funds KwaZulu-Natal residents to qualify in the scarce skills its facilities…
Read the full KZN Department of Health profile →