In November 1985 the university component of the then Academy of South West Africa was officially designated an autonomous university.
The new university did not have a department of nursing science with which the Windhoek and Oshakati Nursing Colleges could be associated. It was consequently resolved to establish a Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences in the university and this faculty assumed responsibility for the professional training of nurses and midwives, both in Windhoek and at Oshakati after 01 January 1986.The School of Nursing had several name changes over a period of years since its foundation in 1986. The first change was when the new University Act (No. 18 1992) was passed and the University of Namibia came into being on the 1st of September 1992. During this time the School of Nursing was known as the Department of Nursing, and only become known as School of Nursing in 2010. A UNAM satellite campus was created in Keetmanshoop in 2014 and nursing was one of the first programmes to be offered at this campus. In 2015 the School of Public Health was established and thus the current name, the School of Nursing.
The School of Nursing currently provides undergraduate (pre-registration) courses in nursing at the Windhoek, Oshakati, Rundu and Southern campuses. An undergraduate (pre-registration) course in diagnostic radiography is also presented at the Windhoek campus. In addition, post graduate courses are provided in nursing, but only at the Windhoek campus. A new post graduate Diploma in Nurse Education and Health Service Management was introduced in January 2016 on a distance mode.
