Unitec to mark 25 years of nursing education

Media Release
19 January 2011

Unitec to mark 25 years of nursing education with special event in February

Unitec Institute of Technology is gearing itself up to mark yet another remarkable milestone.

The tertiary provider will host a special event on 25 February to celebrate 25 years of nursing education at Unitec. The milestone was reached in October last year but the department decided a special event was necessary to mark this significant achievement.

Some of the country’s finest nurses have graduated from Unitec during this period and now the Department of Nursing is looking for these graduates, and former staff members, to attend the celebration.

“To provide high quality nursing education for this long is something Unitec and the Department of Nursing are proud to acknowledge particularly with people who have contributed to our success over the years,” says Head of Nursing, Sue Gasquoine.

“We would not be here today without the wonderful lecturers and students who have helped raise the profile of nursing in New Zealand.”

The nursing celebrations will take place at Unitec’s Waitakere campus where the Department of Nursing has been based since 2005.

Up until then, the nursing curriculum was taught from Unitec’s Mt Albert campus in 1985 where it started off with around 30 foundation students enrolled in pre-nursing course.

“Those early days were quite eventful with cows from the nearby paddocks being regular visitors who would come right up to our classroom windows while we were teaching.

“Coincidentally, they were the same windows that we ourselves would be pressed up to whenever there were pheasants in the field.”

Unitec was one of the first educational institutes in New Zealand to introduce a diploma qualification for nurses. Later, when nurses required a degree qualification to practice, Unitec was instrumental in developing a nursing degree programme that met the requirements of the health industry.

Today, Unitec has more than 500 students enrolled on a number of nursing programmes from certificate level right through to the masters programme.

The department also contributes to a number of postgraduate programmes in health science, clinical management and education and supervision.

“I think the number of qualifications we are able to offer today is a testament to how highly nurses are regarded in the health industry and are proud that Unitec has made a significant contribution through the various programmes it offers.”

To find out more about the 25 years of nursing at Unitec or to register your interest in attending, you can visit www.nursingreunion.unitec.ac.nz

ENDS

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