All eligible applicants will be accepted

All eligible applicants who obtained the required qualifications by August 31 will be accepted into the degree and diploma courses, the Ministry of Education announced yesterday.

This means that an additional 25 students will be accepted, bringing the total intake to 165 students. This would be possible through a restructuring and extension of time tables, the ministry added.

All the applicants who applied as mature students but were not in possession of the academic qualifications will be assessed for their suitability to pursue the courses. Eighty-four health assistants and nursing aides applied for the diploma course.

Applicants sitting for their Matsec September re-sits will be provided with career guidance with a view to joining other health care courses.

During a meeting the ministry had with the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and with the University, it was clarified that the 140 students who could be accepted by the University for the BSc (Hons) and the diploma in health science (nursing) courses was based on the maximum available training placements within the health sector, in particular in maternity and child care.

It was agreed during the meeting that all the necessary measures should be taken so that all eligible applicants are accepted and, therefore, the 140 mark would no longer be the maximum number of accepted students.

The University has - as from this year and in response to national requirements - already taken a number of initiatives to accommodate a larger number of students. These include the shortening of the duration of the course from four years to three, training additional nurses to mentor students during their placements and training new academic supervisors to support students during their academic course work. Previous intakes in recent years reached a maximum of 90 students.

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses had criticised the decision to accept only 140 students for the degree and diploma course.

According to MUMN president Paul Pace, the health services required about 1,400 nurses at the moment, with Mater Dei Hospital alone in desperate need of 700.

Only two months ago, the health authorities had launched a campaign to encourage more people to take up nursing. The campaign was successful, with the number of potential students for the two courses more than doubling from 151 last year.