26th July 2001

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The University of Ulster today announced a cross-border student recruiting drive as it prepares to launch its new nursing courses in the North-West.

The University is particularly keen to attract students from Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim, building on its already strong cross-border collaboration on health and social care issues.

Up to 100 places will be available at the University’s Magee campus in Derry from September – the first year of the courses. The University will be offering a pre-registration degree in nursing and post registration courses in a number of nursing specialities. In future years there will be openings for 190-230 students.

In June the Health Minister Bairbre De Brun announced that the University of Ulster was to deliver nurse education across the province with Queen’s University concentrating its delivery of pre-registration nurse education at its Belfast campus.

Professor Hugh McKenna, Head of School of Health Sciences, said: “From September nursing education in the North West takes an exciting leap forward with the University of Ulster offering an undergraduate degree course in nursing and post registration courses for people already in nursing.

“We are keen to attract students – male and female – from as wide a base as possible on both sides of the border. This will enable us to build on the strong collaborative cross-border work with which the University is already involved. We are strongly committed to improving the health and social care available to people generally and particularly in the North West of Ireland.

“We are conducting research in Donegal into skill mix. In Sligo we are looking at methods of supporting carers of older people and in Dublin our research is concentrated on midwifery. We are also conducting courses in the South East of Ireland.

“The University of Ulster is unique in being the only leading centre for nursing research on the island of Ireland and also pioneered the first Doctor of Nursing programme in Europe.

“Recently we were ranked joint sixth out of 37 UK university nursing departments for high quality research and are in the top 10 nursing departments out of 76 listed in The Times Good Education Guide. We were also classified as “excellent” in the Quality Assurance Agency’s review of universities’ departments.

“Of the 20 nurses with PhDs in Northern Ireland, 17 work at the University of Ulster. This shows the breadth and depth of our nurse education and research,” Professor McKenna added.

The University has recently recruited 12 new staff, including four senior lecturers in nursing, most of these will be based in Derry.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk