Bid to raise intake

The government and the University are in talks to increase the number of students in nursing and other healthcare courses, the government has said.

Reacting to Labour criticism of the way applications for the nursing course were handled, it said its campaign to attract people to the nursing profession had been successful, citing the record number of students, 165, accepted this year. This year, the University's Institute of Health Care's student intake totalled 336.

Labour had criticised the fact that more than 200 students, some of whom had all the necessary qualifications after passing their re-sits, had been rejected for the courses and offered alternative ones.