An additional 115 new nursing seats are now open to students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), boosting nursing student capacity at the university by nearly 50 per cent and greatly expanding health care education opportunities in the region.
A new nursing lab and technology upgrades are now complete at the Langley campus, allowing KPU to open the full complement of new spaces recently allocated by the B.C. government.
“We know we need to train nurses so they can begin their careers and provide the care that British Columbians need,” says Andrew Mercier, Minister of State for Workforce Development. “The training and education these students will receive at KPU will prepare them for in-demand careers in the health care field.”
On Tuesday, Oct. 10, Minister Mercier joined KPU Faculty of Health students and instructors on a tour of the new state-of-the-art education space at KPU Langley.
The new seats represent a significant expansion of KPU’s existing nursing programs. With these additional new seats, the university now offers 364 seats annually across four programs, up from 249 – a 46 per cent increase.
“KPU is committed to educating the next generation of health care professionals, and we are excited to be welcoming more students to help meet the demand for qualified nurses across our health care system,” says Sharmen Lee, Faculty of Health dean at KPU.
Space has doubled in both the Bachelor of Psychiatric Nursing program and the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Advanced Entry program. The Graduate Nurse Internationally Educated Re-Entry program has grown by 33 per cent, while the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program remains the same.
KPU’s nursing programs are based at the university’s Langley campus, which now has five nursing labs, four simulation labs, and a home care lab, in addition to classrooms and study areas.
The nursing labs are each equipped with sophisticated technology, including life-sized computer-controlled patient simulators that manifest a wide array of physiological and neurological symptoms allowing learners to fully immerse themselves in a simulated health care environment.
More information on KPU’s nursing programs is available from the Faculty of Health at KPU.