INCREDIBLY
GROUNDBREAKING
DECISION
The first course of studies in nursing was introduced at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences more than 40 years ago. With the certificate programme of the time, the university was one of the first to offer the academisation of nursing – and it still does today. Since then, the study range has been expanded to include three bachelor’s programmes and two advanced master’s programmes, while also offering a varied network of initiatives and research projects. The 40th anniversary was honoured in October as part of the Health Forum.
COURAGEOUS
DECISION
“Today, it’s hard to imagine that, back in 1980, the idea of a study course in nursing would be not only viewed critically but also rejected by healthcare policy-makers, the medical profession, nursing associations, even the nurses themselves, states Professor Elke Hotze, Speaker for the Nursing and Midwifery Science Group, in recalling the history of the nursing degree programme. Despite the scepticism, Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences established the further education course in April 1981 and thus took a decisive step towards the academisation of a central healthcare profession in Germany. Over time, further nursing-specific degree programmes were added and, in 1987, the university succeeded in establishing the first nursing-specific professorship at a German university with the appointment of Professor Dr. Ruth Schröck.
CORRECT
DECISION
“Interest in the course of study remains high to this day,” emphasises Ms Hotze. “Among other things, this is no doubt because of the many initiatives of the teaching staff, for example, in the German Network for Quality Development in Nursing (DNQP) and in various interdisciplinary research projects,” she adds. In addition to the part-time bachelor’s degree programmes in Nursing Management and Nursing Science as well as the dual bachelor’s programme at the Osnabrück and Lingen locations, the master’s programmes in Management in Healthcare and HELPP – Healthcare Research and Design round off the comprehensive academic qualification. With the decision to establish nursing science as a discipline at a university, Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences not only laid the foundation for more than 40 years of nursing development in Osnabrück, it also provided the impetus for the academisation of other professions such as midwifery, speech therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy.
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