Waiariki Offers Bachelor of Nursing In Tauranga

Waiariki Offers Bachelor of Nursing In Tauranga

Nurses will be educated in Tauranga from 2004 thanks to an agreement between Waiariki Institute of Technology, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and Bay of Plenty District Health Board.

Waiariki has been educating top class nurses since 1985 and its Bachelor of Nursing programme is in heavy demand. Last year 400 applicants vied for 90 places on the course. Expansion of the programme into Tauranga will allow nursing numbers to expand.

Waiariki Head of School - Nursing and Health, Nina Hill, is delighted to be offering the programme in Tauranga. "The majority of our students are 'mature' and around 30 percent traditionally come from the Tauranga area," she says. "This will save them time and travel costs, and let them focus on their study in their local environment."

Graduates from the Waiariki Bachelor of Nursing programme are in high demand. "For the past few years our graduates are amongst the highest achievers in the country, and in fact one year we had the top three in the country," says Hill.

The Bachelor of Nursing is a three-year full-time degree and is also offered part-time. Tauranga students will have full access to Bay of Plenty Polytechnic facilities and services at the Windemere Tertiary Village.

The move is also welcomed by Bay of Plenty District Health Board and other health providers, especially in light of a predicted nursing shortage.

Christine Payne, Director of Nursing Practice for the Bay of Plenty District Health Board says the Board is thrilled to have negotiated a programme based in Tauranga. "Our district is rapidly expanding and I have high hopes the programme will attract even more students because of its locality."

Payne also praised the quality of the recent graduates from Waiariki, and the success of an access programme to Nursing for Maori run by the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic were significant factors in developing the partnership.

"Waiariki students have been Bay of Plenty District Health Board's main source of recruits to our new graduate programme and we retain around 75 percent of these on completion of that transition course so we are excited at the prospect of increasing the number of recruits from a Tauranga based undergraduate programme."

Full approval was granted by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and the Nursing Council of New Zealand and teaching will begin in February. To find out more, interested students can contact Mandy Hunt, student advisor on 0800 924 274 or visit http://www.waiariki.ac.nz

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