Nursing to be all Graduate entry profession from September 2011 (at the earliest !)

If you are looking at entering Nursing as a careers it might be worth knowing that one year ago (3rd Sept 2008), the Nursing and Midwifery Council confirmed in principle that the minimum academic award for pre-registration nursing programmes will be a degree. Degree-only programmes are due to be in place by September 2011 (at the earliest), and anybody entering nurse training after this date will probably have to undertake a degree. However, student nurses already on a diploma course do not have to convert to a degree course, and registered nurses only have to ‘top-up’ from diploma to degree if they want to do so. http://www.nursingtimes.net/forums-blogs-ideas-debate/your-career/how-to-improve-your-career/how-to-go-from-diploma-to-degree/5002141.article.

If you are worried about the cost of this study, it is worth remembering that in terms of additional lifetime earnings, healthcare graduates enjoy a 21-44% premium if they are women and a 15-27% premium if they are men. A full report investigating evidence of the impact of healthcare and similar student financial support systems on a range of impact factors including value for money and equality can be found here http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_101615.pdf This report also contains a descriptive summary of the funding systems for healthcare students in Germany, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.