Faculty Regulations

FOHS 1.00     Preamble

These regulations should be read in conjunction with the general academic regulations of the National University of Lesotho.

FOHS 2.00     Programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences

The Faculty of Health Sciences offers the following degrees:

Degrees with duration of Three years

Bachelor of Nursing Science (BNSc) (Completion Programme) in

• Community Health Nursing
• Advanced Medical-Surgical Nursing
• Primary Health Care

Degrees with a duration of Four years

Bachelor of Science in Nutrition (BSc Nutrition)

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health (BSc Environmental Health)

Degrees with a duration of Five years

Bachelor of Science in General Nursing and Midwifery (BScN) (Generic Programme)

Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) (B. Pharm (HONS)

FOHS 3.00       Entry Requirements

FOHS 3.01       Direct entry into year 1 (level 100)

Entry requirements for BSc in General Nursing and Midwifery***, BSc Nutrition, BSc Environmental Health and B. Pharmacy Honours*** are as follows:

Candidates/Students/Applicants must have:

• Sat for a minimum of 6 (six) subjects in LGCSE/IGCSE examinations
• Obtained a B grade or better in Mathematics *** (for B Pharm applicants)
• Obtained a C grade or better in Mathematics
• Obtained a C grade or better in Biology or Physical Science
• Obtained a C grade or better in English Language
• Obtained a C grade or better in one other subject
• Obtained a D grade or better in any other two subjects
• Sat for and passed a psychometric test ***(for BSc. General Nursing and Midwifery)

NB: Results of Advanced Subsidiary level are considered for admission

NB: Candidates with qualifications other than LGCSE/IGCSE must have them endorsed/validated by the Examinations Council of Lesotho.

FOHS 3.02       Applicants are required to take a pre-entry test to be offered space in the faculty prior to applying. The results of the pre-entry test should be part of the application package for consideration of admission. The departments will guide on conducting and consideration of the pre-entry test.

FOHS 3.03       Only candidates who qualify and have passed the pre-test will be considered for admission and/or wait-listing

FOHS 3.04       Special conditions on admission (including disability) will be handled by departments

FOHS 3.05       Indirect entry into year 2 (level 200)

Candidates who meet any of the under-mentioned requirements will be considered for entry into Level 200 of the appropriate degree program that they are applying for. (i.e. programs in Nursing, Pharmacy, Nutrition and Environmental Health).

Candidates who hold a Diploma in Nutrition Science, Home Economics, Pharmaceutical Technology, Environmental Health. *** (For Nutrition, diploma holders should have at least passed with Credit)

OR

Pass in International Baccalaureate (IB) examinations in Chemistry and Biology and either Physics or Mathematics with a score of at least 4 at higher level in Biology and Chemistry and 3 in either Mathematics or Physics at the same level.

OR

Pass in Advanced level General Certificate of Education (GCE A-level) examinations with a minimum aggregate of 9 in Chemistry, Biology and either Physics or Mathematics

Entry into Bachelor of Nursing Science (Completion Program)

Candidates must meet the following requirements;

• Diploma in general nursing or equivalent
• Registration with Lesotho Nursing Council and one year working experience as a Nurse
• Midwifery qualification is compulsory for those who want to major in Community Health and Primary Health Care Nursing

FOHS 3.06       Indirect entrants must take and pass general education courses. Students may apply for exemption from faculties offering such courses by proving they have taken equivalents of such courses before/at other institutions.

FOHS 3.07       Students are required to attend all seminars, clinical attachment, prescribed laboratory practicals, tutorials and field trips.

FOHS 3.08       A contact hour shall be equivalent to One (1) hour of Lecture or Three (3) hours of Tutorial/Practical or Four (4) hours of internship/fieldwork/project/clinical placement.

FOHS 4.00       Research Project

FOHS 4.01       During the final year of study, EVERY student shall be required to write a research report over two semesters as a year course; of a minimum of 8000 words on a research project following guidelines approved in advance by the Faculty in conjunction with a department.

FHOS 4.02       Students must have their research titles and proposals of research projects approved by the IRB at the end of October in the academic year in which they will graduate

FOHS 4.03       The final reports shall be submitted in triplicate by the last day of May in the academic year in which the student seeks to graduate.

FOHS 4.04       No student shall be permitted to graduate unless he/she has presented a satisfactory research report.

FOHS 4.05       A student who fails to submit the research report by the date stipulated in clause FOHS 4.03 may be awarded an “I” for incomplete with the approval of the Head of the Department and Dean of the Faculty. A student may be allowed to submit his/her project as a supplementary examination during the supplementary examinations. If the work is not completed within the extended time, an “F’ grade will be awarded.

FOHS 4.06       Each student will be assigned a research Supervisor from amongst the academic staff of the faculty. Supervision should be done by any fulltime lecturer with the necessary capacity.

FOHS 4.07       Students shall consult with their supervisors in the selection of their projects and the titles. The Supervisor shall supervise all aspects of the research and the writing of the research report.

FOHS 4.08       It shall be the responsibility of the student to consult his/her supervisor regularly and bring to the attention of the supervisor any problems that may arise in relation to the research project.

FOHS 4.09

• A student may, within two months of being assigned a supervisor, apply to the Head of the Department to have the supervisor changed, provided he/she or she has a valid reason for such a request. In the event of the Head of the Department not approving, the student may apply to the Dean of the Faculty.
• No student may, in the absence of any compelling reason be allowed to change a supervisor after the 31^st of August of the academic year in which the student seeks to graduate.

FOHS 5.00       Assessment of Students

FOHS 5.01       All courses will be offered in semesters and will be examined at the end of that semester.

FOHS 5.02       The final grade for a final year project (research report) shall consist of examination of final submission at the end of two semesters

FOHS 5.03       For theory courses, continuous assessment, which may take the form of tests, term papers and assignments, class participation, shall account for 40% of the final grade in each course while the final examination shall account for 60%.

FOHS 5.05       For the practicum courses, continuous assessment, which may take the form of clinical skills assessment, laboratory reports, clinical conferences and seminars, shall account for 40% of the final grade in each course while the final examination shall account for 60%.

FOHS 5.06       Practicum examination for Nursing Programs must be passed with a minimum of a D grade, and cannot be remarked nor supplemented (see Departmental regulations).

FOHS 5.07       A student who is unable to attend due to illness should notify the Director of Student Affairs with a period of three consecutive weeks to provide evidence from a certified recognized medical health practitioner and facilities. If the student has missed the examination, the coursework will be deferred and the student will write the examination as first sitting. The final mark will be computed by coursework and first sitting examination mark (out of 100%).

FOHS 5.07       Conditions for sitting for final exams

A student should acquire at least 40% of course work per course and at least 75% class attendance as a requirement for sitting for the final examination in that particular course.

FOHS 6.00       Academic standing

FOHS 6.01       Progression from Semester One to Semester Two:

2. At end of the Semester One a student will proceed to Semester Two in Good Academic Standing provided the student has obtained a minimum of a D grade in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and a GPA of 2.00 or better.
3. A student who does not satisfy FOHS 6.01 a) above will proceed to Semester Two with an Academic Warning.

FOHS 6.02       Progression from Semester 2 to Semester 3

1. Proceeding in Good Academic Standing

To proceed from Semester 2 to Semester 3 in good academic standing a student should have:

2. A Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 2.00 or better,
3. A D average in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics and;

• A D in semester two Mathematics*

* For B. Pharmacy

1. Proceeding with Restriction(s)

To proceed from Semester 2 to Semester 3 with restrictions a student should have:

2. A Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 2.00 or better,
3. Pre-requisites to register for a particular programme as stated in FOHS 6.02 (ii), FOHS 6.02 (iii) and FOHS 6.02 (iv).
4. Cannot Proceed – Repeat Course(s)
5. A student who does not satisfy FOHS 6.02(a) and/or FOHS 6.02(b) cannot proceed to Semester 3.
6. Such a student shall be required to repeat the failed course(s) when next offered.

FOHS 6.03       Progression from Semester 3 onwards

In addition to GPA of 2.00 or better, other requirements for students to proceed from semester to semester shall be provided by departmental special regulations. These may include;

1. Passed core courses, co-requisites, pre-requisite courses, practicum courses etc

FOHS 7.00       Protective Clothing

FOHS 7.01       No student shall be allowed into the laboratory without protective clothing and other equipment as prescribed for Laboratory practicals and in all situations where patient/client or environmental contact occurs.

FOHS 7.02       It shall be the responsibility of the student to provide the protective clothing according to specifications provided.

FOHS 8.00       Discretionary mark

A mark of 49 shall be rounded up to 50 before the results are submitted to senate.

FOHS 9.00       Transfers

FOHS 9.01       Intra-faculty transfers/Change of programs

Students are allowed to transfer between programs within the Faculty provided there is space and meet requirements of departments.

FOHS 9.02       Interfaculty transfers

Subject to availability of space, students who meet departmental requirements for proceeding into second year of such a program can write an application to Dean.

Students can also transfer to another faculty in the University. Admission of the students will be based on the regulations of faculties they wish to transfer into.

FOHS 10.03     Exam Malpractice

If a student is found guilty of exam malpractice, their exam mark maybe nullified and rusticated for a period not exceeding two (2) years.

FOHS 11.00     Course coding

The departments have own coding system with reference to individual subject areas namely EHS for Environmental Health, NURS for Nursing, NUT for Nutrition and PHAR for Pharmacy; and FHS for faculty courses. The digits of each course follow this pattern; first digit is for the year of study, second digit is the SADC/LQF level, third digit is the indexing of streams found in the programme while the last digit is the semester.

FOHS 12.00     Academic load

A student is expected to carry the workload of 12-18 credit hours (including courses to be retaken). Departmental regulations provides conditions for “retake and/or repeat”

FOHS 13.00   Change of Programme

A student, who has not fulfilled proceeding requirements of the programme registered for, may proceed into another programme within the sister departments and faculties provided s/he qualifies for the programme chosen and there is space.

FOHS 14.00   Conceded pass

A conceded pass may be granted by the faculty to a student in final year for a repeated/retaken elective course if the final mark in a course is in the range of 45 – 49% inclusive and the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) for the student will be at least 2.0.

FOHS 15.00   Completion of credits

A student shall only be awarded a qualification after completing a minimum of 360 credits in a programme