Final step in college nursing program approval process

WINSTED — Northwestern Connecticut Community College is only one more “OK� away from bringing its new nursing program online for early next year, with the curriculum scheduled to go before the state Department of Higher Education later this month.

The department’s Advisory Committee on Accreditation is expected to review and approve the program at its meeting April 16, NCCC president Barbara Douglass told The Journal Monday.

The review is the final step in the approval process after the curriculum was given the green light by the board of trustees of Community-Technical Colleges on March 15.

Earlier this month, the curriculum also received the approval of the Connecticut State Board of Examiners for Nursing.

The college plans to have the nursing program up and running for the spring 2011 semester, which begins in January.

“Since the program is now on the fast track, the college is proceeding with time-sensitive tasks such as purchasing equipment for the nursing laboratory and searching for a nursing director,� Douglass said.

The school expects to begin accepting applications for admission to the program this fall. The first class will have openings for 24 students.

That number, however, will eventually increase to a total of 80 students enrolled in the program, with 40 working to complete their first year of study and 40 working through their second and final year.

The Winsted school’s nursing curriculum will mirror similar programs already in place at five of the state’s 12 community colleges.

NCCC currently offers several health-care related programs, and about 140 students are now enrolled as pre-nursing majors.

Students who have entered the pre-nursing program at NCCC, however, have had to transfer to other institutions to complete their degrees.

The growing nursing shortage throughout the Northwest Corner spurred the creation of the new nursing program.

In Feburary, the college officially announced it had received $350,000 in federal funding to help keep the nursing program moving foward.

That funding has been added to the $1 million in contributions the school had already raised to support the program through a private capital campaign. It has been estimated that $1.4 million is needed to get the program off the ground and running.

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