Nursing students will be able to earn a University of Illinois at Chicago bachelor’s degree on the Springfield campus of the U of I beginning next August.
The University of Illinois Springfield is joining with UIC and Memorial Health System to offer the degree that they say will meet a growing demand for highly trained nurses.
“As Springfield’s medical district grows, there is a demand for highly qualified nurses in the area,” UIS Chancellor Susan Koch said. “This partnership will bring one of the top-ranked schools for nursing in the country to Springfield while helping to further boost undergraduate enrollment at UIS.”
The program can be completed in four years of full-time study and is in two phases. Two years of pre-nursing and general education courses at UIS would be followed by two years of professional nursing courses taught by UIC College of Nursing faculty at UIS.
Admission to the professional phase is highly competitive and requires recommendation by the UIC College of Nursing’s admissions committee after the first two years of coursework.
The bachelor’s degree program will be supported by $1.25 million in scholarships made available to UIS students by Memorial Health System. Memorial also will contribute $750,000 over three years to help support the program and get it up and running, said Ed Curtis, president and CEO of Memorial Health System.
The story was reported in The State Journal Register on September 24, 2014.
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