Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Nursing college signs MoU with Edinburgh college

By Feroze Ahmed

CHENNAI MARCH 31. That nursing education in the State needs a healthy dose of quality came to the fore today, during the signing of an MoU between a British university and a nursing college here.

``Our syllabus (for Nursing) is really outdated,'' the Chairperson of the Governing Council of Omayal Achi College of Nursing, Valli Alagappan, told presspersons, after signing an MoU with the Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, for a two-year B.Sc Post Basic Programme in Nursing Studies. ``As they constantly update their course, it will help us keep up with recent techniques''.

With this arrangement, we hope the doors will be open for candidates to work anywhere in the world - not that they are not doing so now, but the process is tedious,'' she told the gathering earlier, at a function organised on the occasion.

The OACN will offer the course from September to those who already hold a diploma in Nursing and have worked for a minimum of two years. The QMUC will issue the degree certificate.

The Chairman of the All-India Board of Undergraduate Education in Engineering and Technology, M. Anandakrishnan, listed quality as a key factor in seeking ``cooperation with other countries''. While India had many quality institutes, there still was scope for accessing better quality education from outside the country, he said.

The Nursing education here, however, came in for praise from the British Deputy High Commissioner for Southern India, M. E. J. Herridge. Hailing the southern region as a recognised human resource capital, he said, ``In India, the traditional home of quality nurses is the South. They have the distinction of being well trained and educated, and are in great demand throughout the world''.

Earlier, speaking to The Hindu, the QMUC Dean of Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Alan Gilloran, said the MoU was the first for nursing in the country. The curriculum had been structured on the basis of the Indian Nursing Council guidelines and enhanced to include innovative teaching methods, he said.

The Head of the Department of Health and Nursing, QMUC, Linda E Sydie, said the university strength in theory and research will be merged with the local emphasis on field practice and community health.

However, according to Dr. Alan, while students doing the course will be recognised in the United Kingdom for higher studies, they would not be allowed to register there as a nurse based on the degree earned through the collaboration. Besides, he said, the new course had not received recognition from the INC.

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