North West School of DesignNWSD

North West School of Design is a private fashion school in Klerksdorp, North West, that has been training fashion students since 1998. Its own legal status page says plainly that it is not government accredited or registered in South Africa. Its programmes do not lead to a qualification on the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework, so graduates receive a school-issued graduation statement and transcript rather than a registered national qualification. The school is accredited by the British Accreditation Council as an International Centre, a private quality scheme listed in the council's own provider directory. Anyone planning further study or work that asks for a registered qualification should weigh this.

Teaching is mainly in person on the Klerksdorp campus, and full-time students are expected to relocate to the town. The main full-time offering is a three-year fashion programme that starts in fashion design and lets students choose a fashion communication and buying stream after the first year. A one-year full-time foundation in fashion design can lead into it. The school also runs part-time short courses, such as sewing and patternmaking, corset design, make-up and styling, plus off-site training in which a lecturer travels to a community or corporate group. One pattern design short course is taught by correspondence: learners receive a kit with a manual and video lessons, study at their own pace, and send work in for assessment. Short courses are not credit-bearing and end in a school certificate.

Full-time applicants must be 18 or older with a National Senior Certificate or equivalent, and complete an online application and online test. Applicants without matric can begin with the one-year foundation. Short courses need no matric; applicants must be at least 17 with basic literacy and numeracy, and need guardian consent if under 18. Applications are assessed in the order received, and registration follows written acceptance and payment of a registration fee. The first-year group is capped at a small number of students, so places can fill before the academic year starts in February.

Fees are set out in the school's prospectus rather than listed on its pages. The school points students to loan and bursary routes through Manati and Student Hero, and runs its own bursary programme with income-based fee concessions. NSFAS is not named as a way to pay for study there.