The concept “care” differentiates the School of Health Care Sciences from other schools and departments. The name of the School was chosen to emphasise the caring aspect that the Departments in the School identify with. Caring for the students, patients, staff and the community is visualised as the School strives to be a leader in the education of health care professionals. Caring implies rendering a person-driven service to all the people involved.

The School of Health Care Sciences strives to accomplish this by:

• caring for the students through excellent education, creation of knowledge in the field of patient care and the stimulation of critical and independent thinking by our students in order to facilitate the development of critical reflective health care practitioners 
• caring for patients by structuring the training of our students in such a way that the learning opportunities and experiences are practice-based to contribute to the growth of the students in research-based practical skills 
• caring for the staff in creating an intellectually stimulating and pleasant environment in which the staff is encouraged to take part in effective and innovative approaches to teaching, research and community service 
• caring for the community that the School serves by developing health care professionals who are dedicated to contributing  to the improvement of the health and quality of life of the people of South Africa by being sensitive to the changing health needs of the community, and 
• caring for the professional community consisting of our colleagues in the health care sciences by instilling in our students – our future colleagues – the importance of a sound value framework to guide them in decision making in either the practical and the research sphere.