Carleton University officially announced its new bachelor of science in nursing program, partnered with the Queensway Carleton Hospital (QCH).
Ontario Premier Doug Ford visited Carleton on Nov. 5 to announce the province’s first new nursing program in 20 years.
Opening in September 2025 with an inaugural class of up to 110 students, students will be set to start practising by 2029.
“Nursing students will have a unique opportunity to receive hands-on training at QCH during their course of study,” Ford said at the announcement event.
“Nothing’s better than right on-site training.”
The program will produce graduates in three years instead of the typical four by shortening students’ summer break and compressing the curriculum.
Carleton University president Jerry Tomberlin said this new program will improve and transform patient care in Ontario.
“We knew we didn’t want to roll out something conventional,” Tomberlin said. “It was an opportunity to do something brand new.”
The program offers two concentration options: data science or neuroscience and mental health.
“The pandemic made an already delicate nursing situation even more difficult,” said Yvonne Wilson, the vice-president of patient care and chief nursing executive at QCH.
“Some nurses retired early. Some nurses moved to other jobs outside the hospital. Some reduced their hours, and others left the profession entirely.”
The new program will equip nurses with skills such as mental health and resilience training to retain them in the workforce, Wilson said.
The new nursing program follows the Ford government’s plan to introduce legislation that would ban international students from Ontario medical schools.
“We have no seats here in Ontario because 18 per cent of the seats are given to people from around the world that come here, take the seats, learn, get their doctor then they go back home,” Ford said.
“That’s unacceptable. That’s done. That’s going to be finished. We’re going to make sure that 100 per cent of those seats are filled with Canadians,” he said.
Featured image by Cassandra Bellefeuille/The Charlatan.
