The University of Ulster’s School of Nursing is one of the top performers in the UK, according to the professions regulatory body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
The NMC Quality Assurance Monitoring results for 2011-2012 show that Ulster’s School of Nursing was one of only two approved education institutions (AEIs) to get ‘outstanding’ for practice learning.
The UU was also one of only five AEIs to get ‘outstanding’ in any of the five areas monitored: practice learning; resources; admissions and progression; fitness for practice and quality assurance.
The NMC sets the standards of education and training for all nurses and midwives throughout the UK by monitoring approved education institutions (AEIs) to ensure student and qualified nurses and midwives are educated to deliver high quality healthcare.
Professor Owen Barr, head of Ulster’s School of Nursing since 2007, said the NMC results – which placed Ulster in the top 4% of education institutions providing training for nurses and midwives – confirmed that the quality of teaching across the university was first class.
The NMC defines ‘outstanding’ as “exceptional and consistently high performance”, with examples of effective practice which is innovative and worthy of dissemination and emulation by other programme providers,” Professor Barr said.
Ulster’s School of Nursing achieved autonomy in 08/09 and again in 2010/11 and, on the basis of the most recent results, has now earned autonomy for 2012/13.
Professor Barr said the highly rated quality of teaching in the School of Nursing, as endorsed by the NMC, was complemented by the school’s proven track record and success in nursing research.
“The School of Nursing performed exceptionally well in the last UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) with 100% of nursing research classified as being of international quality and 20% of world class” he said.
Two undergraduate Pre Registration Programmes are currently offered by the School of Nursing: BSc (Hons) Nursing (Adult) and BSc (Hons) Nursing (Mental Health).
Last year, the University of Ulster also announced that the number of student nurses at Magee will be increased as part of the planned academic expansion at the campus.
By 2015, both Pre Registration programmes will be taught only at Magee. This year, there were 2,168 applications for just 224 places, a 6% increase from the previous year.