"We really want our students in medicine and the allied health sciences to have a rich
awareness of the challenges of working in communities in and around Cape Town. This is an
opportunity for us to educate different sorts of students in healthcare work in South Africa."
Professor Martin Hall, DVC, at the opening of the SLC Vanguard, September 2005

The faculty opened its first "purpose-built" student learning centre in 2005 in the nearby Bonteheuwel community. The R2.8-million Vanguard Student Learning Centre is an extension to the Vanguard Community Health Centre that serves the neighbouring communities of Bonteheuwel and Langa. Funding for the venture came from the UK-based Rangoonwala Foundation and the Liberty Foundation of South Africa.

The partnership was initiated so that partners would have an opportunity to guide resources towards community health-related activities that directly impact the health status of economically disadvantaged communities in South Africa and so that the PHCD would gain an additional forum in which evidence-based decision-making could be developed and implemented, for maximum community benefit.

The facility has 10 consulting rooms, patient waiting areas, a computer room, a seminar room, and a courtyard where students and patients can relax. The centre is also fully equipped for medical consultations, as well as physiotherapy and speech and language therapy.

The centre serves as a base where UCT students, supported by faculty members, part-time practitioners from communities and provincial staff, gain significant exposure to the realities and healthcare needs of the community.