McGill’s Ingram School of Nursing and the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) Foundation are joining forces to develop Quebec’s first bilingual, online Bachelor of Nursing Program.
The online Bachelor of Nursing is made possible by a $1 million gift from the Doggone Foundation, which has been a generous supporter of McGill’s Faculty of Medicine.
The new program is slated to launch in September 2021.
“Despite research showing that online instruction can lead to similar or better nursing student outcomes, no Quebec university currently offers online university-level full academic programs in nursing in either language,” explains Dr. Anita Gagnon, Associate Dean, Faculty of Medicine, and Director, Ingram School of Nursing at McGill.
“Developed in partnership with the online learning team at Teaching and Learning Services, the BNI online will provide students with an engaging and rigorous learning experience. This program is specifically tailored to students with a Quebec diploma in nursing (DEC). We’ve been offering our Bachelor of Nursing (Integrated) or BNI program since 2004, but this will be the first opportunity for practicing nurses in Quebec with DECs to improve their knowledge and access higher education in the form of a full degree online. This will make a bachelor’s degree accessible, not only to more nurses here in Montreal, but all over the province, including in remote areas.”
“Our healthcare system is already in desperate need of nurses,” states Chantal Souligny, Director of Nursing at the MUHC. “Offering this degree online will help nurses remain on the job while they study. In addition, the importance of training the next generation of nurse leaders is clear: encouraging more of our nurses to access a university degree and therefore develop their leadership capabilities is primordial for the optimal functioning of our healthcare system.”
“Nurses are a key part of keeping our citizens healthy, and giving them the opportunity to further their expertise is something the foundation feels strongly about,” says Paul Marchand, President and Executive Director of the Doggone Foundation.
“Increasing and broadening the skills of nurses throughout Quebec will also lead to the increase of nurse practitioners at a time when the Ministry of Health has recognized the need for such specialized services in our health care system.”
In 2018, the Doggone Foundation gave $15 million to the Faculty of Medicine and the Research Institute of the MUHC, to establish the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4).
Read more about the new online Bachelor of Nursing Program.