Nursing and midwifery training colleges in Ghana

What "best nursing training college" can honestly mean

People search for the best nursing training colleges in Ghana to answer one question: where should I apply so that I qualify, pass the licensing exam and get a job? Nobody publishes the data that would answer it. There are no school-level pass rates, no placement figures and no standard cost list.

What the regulators do publish is who is accredited. That is a real filter, because applying to a college that is not accredited for a programme can cost you a year and a form fee. So this page ranks on regulatory standing and nothing else. A college that two regulators list as accredited has cleared two checks. It is not a promise of quality, only of being legitimate.

How this list was built

We took every nursing and midwifery training college on the register and checked two lists: the Nursing and Midwifery Council's accredited institutions and the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission's accredited list. Colleges on both lists go in the table. Within that group, a college with more programme codes printed by the Council comes first, then alphabetical order. Region is shown where the register holds one; otherwise we show the town.

The list: nursing training colleges on both regulator lists

• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Dunkwa-on-Offin
• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Kpembe
• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Mampong Ashanti
• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Twifo Praso
• College of Nursing and Midwifery, Kubori
• Narh-Bita College
• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Cape Coast
• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Sunyani
• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Tepa
• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Yeji
• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Dadiesoaba
• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Koforidua
• Nursing And Midwifery Training College, Zuarungu
• Royal Ann College of Health
• SDA College of Health, Barekese
• College of Health, Sefwi Asafo
• College of Nursing, Ntotroso
• Holy Family Nurses Training College, Nkawkaw
• Martin Luther Health Training School, Kintampo
• Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Odumase Krobo
• Presbyterian Midwifery Training College, Duayaw-Nkwanta
• Rans-Elliot School of Nursing
• St. Karol School of Nursing
• Withrow College

What the other groups mean

The Council's list covers 125 of the 178 colleges, and the Commission's list covers 74. Public nursing and midwifery training colleges, which are the majority, are mostly on the Council's list. The Commission publishes the accreditation windows with dates. If your college is in the Council-only group, ask for its Commission accreditation letter. You can read the complete list, with every college, on our nursing and midwifery training colleges page and the private nursing colleges page.

Programmes the Council lists across the colleges

The Council prints the codes and we count them as printed. RGN stands for registered general nurse; the other codes are explained on the Council's site.

Where the colleges are

The register records a region for some colleges and only a town for others. The table counts every nursing and midwifery training college on the register as the register states it.

Of the 178 colleges, 127 are recorded as public and 51 as private. The rest have no owner stated.

After training: the licensing examination

A nursing or midwifery certificate is not the last step. Graduates sit a professional licensing examination run by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and those who pass are registered and given a professional identification number. A college page quoting the Council says the examinations are held several times a year, in February and March, June and July, August, and November and December, with the college head certifying that the candidate has met the theory and practical requirements. That page is dated 2020, so confirm the current sitting dates and fees with the Council before you plan around them.

This is why pass rates matter, and why they are worth asking for in writing. Nobody publishes them by school, so a college that quotes you a figure should be able to say which sitting and which year it covers.

Questions to ask a nursing school before you pay

Ask in writing where you can.

• Which programme code is this course running under?
• Where do students do clinical work, and how many students share each site?
• What was the licensing exam pass rate, and which year does it cover? A rate with no year tells you little.
• What is the total cost for the whole programme, not just the first payment?
• Who awards the certificate: the college, a university or another body?
• Is the college on both the Council's list and the Commission's list? If it is missing from one, ask why before you pay.

Forms are sometimes sold before the official window opens. Pay only through the channel the college and the Council publish, never to a personal account, and keep your receipts.

What we could not confirm

• Licensing exam pass rates, employment rates and fees for any college.
• Whether a college outside the "both lists" group is accredited. We match on names, and name differences can hide a match.
• Entry grades. The regulators publish none.

What the programme codes mean

The Nursing and Midwifery Council lists the accredited institutions and prints a code beside each programme. RGN stands for registered general nurse, and the other codes are explained on the Council's site, so read the code rather than guess from the letters. The code tells you what you are applying for. Paying for a form without checking it can leave you on a programme you did not plan.

Accreditation can change, and a programme can lose it, so check the Council's list again before you pay. The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission accredits the institution; the Council approves the nursing programmes. Both matter.

University nursing is a degree, the BSc Nursing. Training colleges run diploma and certificate programmes. KNUST and the University of Cape Coast publish cut-off aggregates for BSc Nursing. We found none published for the training colleges, and no pass rates by school anywhere, so compare what is printed and confirmed and leave the rumours out.

Programmes the universities are accredited for

The Council prints the codes and we count them as printed. RGN stands for registered general nurse; the other codes are explained on the Council's site.

Of the 10 universities, 3 are recorded as public and 7 as private. The others have no owner stated on the register.

Nursing at university or at a training college

There are two main routes into nursing in Ghana. The first is a degree at a university, the BSc Nursing, which is competitive and has published cut-off points at some universities. The second is a diploma or certificate programme at a nursing and midwifery training college, which is usually what people mean when they search "nursing training colleges". This page is about the first route. For the second, read the nursing training colleges list.

Whichever route you take, the Nursing and Midwifery Council decides which institutions can run which programmes, and the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission accredits the institutions themselves. A programme can lose accreditation. Check before you pay.

The list: universities on the Nursing and Midwifery Council's accredited list

• All Nations University College
• Catholic University College
• Christian Service University College
• Garden City University College
• Knutsford University College
• Pentecost University College
• University of Cape Coast (UCC)
• University of Energy and Natural Resources
• University of Ghana
• Valley View University

Published cut-off points for BSc Nursing

A lower aggregate means a harder place to get. The two universities print their figures in different ways, so do not read the table as a ranking. See the cut-off points pages for how each is printed.

How to choose a nursing programme

1. Confirm the programme code. The Council's list prints codes such as RGN for registered general nurse. Match the code to the programme you want.
2. Look at clinical placements. Ask the school where students do clinical work and how many students share each site.
3. Ask about the licensing exam. Ask for pass rates in writing. They are not published nationally.
4. Compare costs. Fees are set by each institution.
5. Check the dates. Nursing admissions run on their own calendar. See the nursing training form guide for the latest we have.