In these Regulations any expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act shall bear such meaning, unless it is specifically defined otherwise herein, and, the following shall bare the meaning as ascribed below unless the context indicates otherwise—

"academic year"

means a period of at least 1200 (one thousand two hundred) notional hours which is equivalent to 120 (one hundred and twenty) credits;

"advanced standing"

means the status granted to a student for admission to studies at a higher level than the student's prior formal studies would have allowed, including exemption where applicable;

"assessment"

means a structured process for gathering evidence and making judgments about a student's performance in relation to the prescribed outcomes of the programme;

"assessor"

means a practitioner registered with the relevant authority and is a specialist in the respective field, responsible for the assessment of the student's achievement of the learning outcomes for the programme;

"clinical accompaniment"

means a structured or unstructured and planned or unplanned process by a lecturer and or a preceptor who accompanies the student to facilitate directed assistance and support at the clinical facility, to ensure the achievement of the programme outcomes;

"clinical education and training"

means facilitation of experiential learning in a range of settings in which the theoretical component is correlated with practice;

"clinical facility"

means a continuum of services to promote health and provide care to health care users, approved by the Council, as such, and used for education and training;

"clinical learning opportunities"

means the range of learning experiences, including work integrated and in-service learning, available in a healthcare setting, which also include other experiential learning sites where a student has the opportunity to gain the required skills;

"clinical placement"

means the period spent by a student in an approved clinical facility and other experiential learning sites to ensure that the outcomes of the programme are achieved;

"clinical supervision"

means the assistance and support extended to the student by the Nurse Specialist or Midwife Specialist at an approved clinical facility and other experiential learning sites, with the aim of developing a competent and independent Nurse Specialist or Midwife Specialist;

"competence"

means the ability of a practitioner to integrate the professional attributes including, but not limited to knowledge, skills, judgment, values and beliefs required to perform as a Nurse Specialist or Midwife Specialist in all situations and practice settings in the field of specialization;

"credit accumulation"

means the totalling of credits towards the completion of a qualification or a part-qualification;

"credit transfer"

means the vertical, horizontal or diagonal relocation of credits towards a qualification or part-qualification registered on the same or different Sub-Framework;

"credit accumulation and transfer"

means the arrangement whereby the diverse features of both credit accumulation and credit transfer are combined to facilitate life-long learning and access to the workplace;

"exit level outcomes"

means the outcomes which define the exit level of performance according to which a candidate completing the qualification is assessed;

"fee"

means an amount of money payable to the Council as determined from time to time and published by Notice in the Government Gazette;

"formative assessment"

means a continuous assessment conducted during the facilitation of learning and teaching to provide students with feedback on learning achieved in order to improve competence as well as to improve teaching and learning;

"general nurse"

means a person educated and competent to practice general nursing in the manner and to the level prescribed, who is capable of assuming responsibility and accountability for such practice;

"integrated education and training"

means connecting skills and knowledge from multiple sources and experiences, applying theory and practice in various settings, utilizing diverse and even contradictory viewpoints;

"learning outcomes"

means a description of demonstrable and assessable end results of a learning process;

"lecturer"

means an academic expert in Higher Education who is responsible for education and training of students including research and publication;

"moderation"

means the process conducted by an independent moderator, which ensures that assessment of the outcomes prescribed for the programme is in accordance with the assessment principles;

"moderator"

means a practitioner registered with the relevant authority and is a specialist in the respective field, responsible for moderation of assessments conducted by the Nursing Education Institutions for the programme;

"nurse specialist or midwife specialist"

means a nurse practitioner who has undergone and met the theoretical and practical requirements of a specific postgraduate nursing programme and is registered as such by the Council;

"preceptor"

means an experienced nurse practitioner who provides day-to-day supervision during clinical practice and facilitates the application of theory to practice for students;

"programme"

means a purposeful and structured set of learning experiences that lead to a qualification;

"qualification"

means a planned combination of learning outcomes with a defined purpose, that is intended to provide qualifying students with applied competence for meeting the prescribed requirements of the qualification in the category Nurse Specialist or Midwife Specialist, that is registered on the National Qualifications Framework;

"recognition of prior learning"

means the evidence-based assessment comparison of previous learning and experience against the learning outcomes required for a specific programme of a student, howsoever obtained, and the acceptance of such previous learning for the purpose of accessing a programme; awarding of credits and advanced standing;

"specialisation"

means acquisition of in-depth knowledge and expertise in a specific field of practice;

"student"

means a person enrolled for a learning programme in a Higher Education Institution and registered with the South African Nursing Council as a leaner nurse or midwife;

"summative assessment"

means a process to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition and academic achievement at the end of a module/programme in relation to stated outcomes and assessment criteria;

"the Act"

means the Nursing Act, 2005 (Act No. 33 of 2005);

"work integrated learning"

means a characteristic of vocational and professionally oriented qualifications that may be incorporated into programmes which takes various forms including simulated learning, work-directed theoretical learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning and work place-based learning.