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New Program Proposal Major In Nursing

CAAL

2/10/2005

Agenda Item 2a.

New Program Proposal

Associate in Health Sciences

Major in Nursing

Aiken Technical College

Summary

Aiken Technical College requests approval to offer a program leading to

the Associate in Health Sciences degree with a Major in Nursing to be

implemented in Fall 2005.

The State Technical College System Board approved the proposal on

September 28, 2004.

The proposal was submitted for Commission review on

November 1, 2004. The proposal was reviewed by the Advisory Committee on

Academic Programs at its meeting on January 20, 2005.

Comments at the Advisory Committee on Academic Programs’ meeting on

January 20, 2005, focused on the reportedly acute need for the program in the

current climate of an insufficient supply of Registered Nurses (both associate and

baccalaureate-prepared) to meet the demand of employers. In the country and in

South Carolina there is a growing realization that a large and growing gap exists

between the supply of new Registered Nurses and the numbers of positions

available for them.

This program should help to bridge that gap in the Aiken

service area.

The purpose of the program is for the College to prepare graduates in the

College’s service area to fill positions as Registered Nurses after passing the

national licensure examination (NCLEX-RN). The program will be implemented

in Fall 2005. In December 2005, the USC-Aiken associate degree program in

nursing will graduate its last class of students and will be discontinued

immediately thereafter, so that there will be no duplicative offering of the

associate degree in nursing within the Aiken service area. Implementation of this

program will continue to fulfill the long-standing policy position of the

Commission on Higher Education that associate degree programs should be

offered solely by two-year institutions and baccalaureate degree programs should

be offered by four-year institutions.

Although it will close the associate degree program, the USC-Aiken

Department of Nursing will continue to offer and expand its BSN-Generic and

BSN-Completion tracks. Because of the growing gap between supply and demand

New Program Proposal Major In Nursing