Who We Are

The Foundation for Professional Development (Pty) Ltd. (FPD) was established in 1997 as a department in the South African Medical Association NPC (SAMA). In 2000, FPD was registered as a separate legal entity (Registration Number: 2000/002641/07). The South African Medical Association, a non-profit company, has a 90% shareholding, while the remainder of the shares are employee-owned. FPD has been registered with the South African Department of Education as a Private Institution of Higher Education since 2002 (Registration number 2002/HE07/013) and meets the international criterial of a research university embracing the three scholarships of higher education namely teaching and learning, research and community engagement.

FPDs mission is to catalyse social change through developing people, strengthening systems and providing innovative solutions in Africa.

FPD strives to provide health sector professionals and managers access to affordable, accessible quality education through management and clinical skills development courses customized to the needs of healthcare managers, practitioners and organizations. Educational products are presented through formal post-graduate qualifications, short courses, in-house courses and conferences. It is based on a virtual business model that places a high premium on strategic alliances with national and international partners to increase its access to state-of-the-art training programs, technology and faculty. To date FPD has provide training to 590 000 students mostly at low or no cost with ZAR 767 million in sponsored education.

Because we anticipate the needs of our students, we have attempted to reduce some of their barriers to training, by developing training programmes that are:

ACCESSIBLE

FPD offers training as close to where participants live and work as possible or through utilising a distance learning approach.

AFFORDABLE

FPD strives to provide scholarships annually to relevant and selected courses, with over R 767 million provided to date.

RELEVANT

FPD's portfolio of courses are demand driven and have evolved to meet the needs faced by healthcare professionals, educators and managers working in a rapidly changing environment.

EXCELLENT

FPD faculties are drawn from leading national and international experts in the different fields.