Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Colleges and Universities Ross Romano visited Humber College on March 16 to congratulate the school for becoming one of the first publicly-assisted colleges in the province to offer a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
This is part of the government's new pathways for nursing education which provides students with more choice and allows institutions to have greater autonomy and flexibility over their programming.
"The pandemic has reminded us all just how invaluable our frontline nurses are as they work incredible hours to care for our sick and most vulnerable," said Ford.
"We need more of these health care heroes, which is why it is so important for colleges like Humber to lead the way by offering our students more choice, while maintaining excellence in nursing education."
Humber College, in collaboration with the University of New Brunswick, has offered a Bachelor of Nursing program for almost 20 years.
March 4, 2021 marked the formal approval of Humber College's stand-alone Bachelor of Science nursing degree program. Humber College will welcome the first cohort of students to this program starting in September 2021.
"This is an important milestone for post-secondary education in Ontario as Humber becomes one of the first colleges to offer stand-alone nursing degrees," said Romano.
"By allowing colleges and universities to have stand-alone degrees our government is increasing choice and reducing barriers to access world-class training for our students."
Ontario's model of nursing education now includes stand-alone Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs offered at universities, colleges, and through collaborative university-college partnerships.
"Nurses play a vital role in the delivery of health care and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have never wavered in their commitment to delivering high-quality care for patients," said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.
"Humber's new Bachelor of Nursing Science program will provide more choices for students while maintaining and strengthening a high-quality nursing workforce."
