04 Jun. 2010
For the first time in Spain a total of 200 students graduate in Nursing
Universidad Europea de Madrid
With training given under the new European Higher Education Area, the Nursing professionals who have taken this Bachelor’s Degree can continue to follow all the academic paths up to achieving the level of PhD. The Colegio Oficial de Enfermería de Madrid [Official Madrid College of Nursing] hosted the graduation ceremony for the first class of students of the Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing in Spain
The Colegio Oficial de Enfermería de Madrid today hosted the graduation ceremony for the first class of students of the Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing in Spain, taught at Universidad Europea de Madrid. “The previous diploma in Nursing has on many occasions called for access to the degree program and this has at last been achieved”, explains Epifanio Fernández, Academic Area Manager of Nursing at Universidad Europea de Madrid. “The adaptation and transformation of the diploma in Nursing into a Bachelor’s Degree is a momentous step in the evolution of this discipline towards new heights in its professional development and autonomy. From now on, the new graduates will be able to compete with equal opportunities and on the same academic level in order to direct and give the teaching, the practice and the management in the different institutions”, he says.
For his part, Pedro Bejarano Soleto, President of the Colegio Oficial de Enfermería de Madrid, thanked Universidad Europea de Madrid for the reference that it has had with the Madrid-based collegiate institution by holding the graduation ceremony for the first class of Bachelor’s Degrees at the College headquarters, recognizing the support that has always been given by the College for professional and academic development in nursing. For the President representing forty thousand nurses in the Autonomous Community of Madrid “there are few professions that can boast such an extensive, skilled framework and which still offer great hopes of development, which comes as a result of the university reform agreed on in Bologna. Under the new curriculums, a new profile of nurse will emerge from the universities”.
In this context, Epifanio Fernández explained that, as in the case of the diploma, this Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing is the base degree program for the General Healthcare Nurse, equipping them to be able to carry out their profession once they have passed the skills learning process and the complete positive evaluation of all the requirements that lead to the degree being awarded. However, today’s graduates in Nursing are trained under the new European Higher Education Area using new methodologies and applying new community directives. “The difference between the degree holders is essentially the academic range, in other words, the graduates have a higher academic level and as such can choose, for example, those positions in the State administration that are only open to degree holders or graduates and may also continue to follow all the academic paths until they reach the level of PhD”, explains Epifanio Fernández.
Universidad Europea de Madrid is the first university to offer the Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing in Spain. “Our curriculum responds to the need for a new profile of nurse that is sought after by today’s society and which requires that the nurse does not only have the theoretical and practical knowledge to successfully carry out their work but is also able to develop the key skills in order to become an ethical professional, with leadership qualities, capable of taking decisions and prepared to work as part of a team and being able to relate to their environment”, he points out.
As a result, the president of the Madrid College of Nursing has again emphasized that “it will not be long before there will be nurses holding key positions within the National Health System. We will have nurses managing important healthcare centers, whether they be hospitals or health centers”.