The UB bachelorʼs degree in Nursing will have 200 places as part of the increase in the offering of these studies in Catalonia
The UB will have, for the next academic year, 140 more places for the bachelorʼs degree in Nursing: 80 in the Bellvitge Campus and 60 in the Medicine Campus. This increase is framed within the increase in places of these studies in Catalonia the Catalan Government and the universities presented on Thursday, April 21, in a ceremony in the Paranipmh of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the UB. The increase in the offering of places in Nursing aims to respond to the high demand of these studies and the lack of nursing staff in Catalonia, which has been accentuated by the pandemic. The academic year 2022/2023 in the Catalan university system will have 561 more places for Nursing studies, a 25% more than the current ones, in which 435 of them (almost the 80% of the total increase) will have a public fee. The UB-affiliated centre in Sant Joan de Déu will also have 60 more places at a private fee, so the University of Barcelona is the one with a higher increase in the offering for the next academic year.
The UB will have, for the next academic year, 140 more places for the bachelorʼs degree in Nursing: 80 in the Bellvitge Campus and 60 in the Medicine Campus. This increase is framed within the increase in places of these studies in Catalonia the Catalan Government and the universities presented on Thursday, April 21, in a ceremony in the Paranipmh of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the UB. The increase in the offering of places in Nursing aims to respond to the high demand of these studies and the lack of nursing staff in Catalonia, which has been accentuated by the pandemic. The academic year 2022/2023 in the Catalan university system will have 561 more places for Nursing studies, a 25% more than the current ones, in which 435 of them (almost the 80% of the total increase) will have a public fee. The UB-affiliated centre in Sant Joan de Déu will also have 60 more places at a private fee, so the University of Barcelona is the one with a higher increase in the offering for the next academic year.
During the event, the rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, highlighted that the context of the pandemic showed the importance of the healthcare professions and “when facing health challenges, the response has to be systemic and collaborative; it cannot be neither partial nor ephemeral regarding the big challenges we need to face and the urgency of situations that affect the whole society”. The rector insisted on the fact that it is precisely a systematic way the one in which training and research should be put at the service of the people: “otherwise, we will not get the right response”.
The president of the deans of Nursing, Montserrat Comellas, stated this notable increase in places “has to help to palliate the structural deficit regarding other OECD countries”. The coordinator of the working group for the improvement in the bachelorʼs degree in Nursing, Dolors Juvinyà, highlighted the task of these working groups “to find collective solutions to the challenges of the degree in Nursing”. The minister for Healthcare, Josep Maria Argimon, defended the “level of autonomy and independence we demand to improve the healthcare system”. The speeches were closed by the minister for Research and Universities, Gemma Geis, who highlighted “the systemic alliance between the Department of Healthcare and the Department of Research and Universities”. More globally speaking, she noted that “we renew today the complicity between the university system, the healthcare system and citizenship”.
Five teaching groups in the Bellvitge Campus and two in the Medicine Campus
In the UB, the increase in places will give a response to the demand: in the academic year 2021/2022, the Nursing studies received 1,327 applications as first option, for an offering of 390 places. The next academic year, the UB will offer 395 places in Bellvitge Campus and 135 in the Medicine Campus. This involves creating up to five teaching groups in Bellvitge Campus and going, in the Medicine Campus, from one to two groups, one in the morning and another in the afternoon (to date there was only the morning group). Also, regarding the upcoming academic years, the practical lesson places have also increased in the university hospitals, affiliated hospitals and healthcare institutions where the UB students of Nursing are trained. Due to this increase in places and internship centres, the number of lecturers in the different categories will increase proportionally.
The reviewing of the bachelorʼs degree includes a proposal to improve the training of the future professionals of nursing. Framed within the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia, the Government and the universities agreed to create a working group for the improvement of studies that enable the exercise of healthcare professions. Some of the analysed measures aim to reinforce the professional identity and promote the nursing leadership and empowering; training in emotional intelligence, and improving the communication skills and communication with patients. Also, it plans for a better planification of the practices in accordance to the teaching objectives, and increase the clinical practices and simulations.