Lambton College is excited about the prospect of potentially offering a new stand-alone four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing program by September 2023.
The proposed program was recently approved by the provincial government.
"Opening new pathways to health care education close to home is a game changer," said MPP Bob Bailey.
Lambton College Senior Vice President of Academic and Student Success Mary Vaughan said there is another step the college will have to take before this stand-alone program can be offered.
"We do have one more step to go through which is the accreditation of the process that we bring the program through College of Nurses of Ontario," she said. "That is the last step we have to do before we can say, 'we're officially able to launch the program.' But we're pretty confident that we will be successful."
Vaughan said having this type of program within the community may help meet job demands in the area.
"Keeping our students locally here for four years is an amazing experience that this will bring for the hospitals and long-term care homes," she said. "What sometimes happens when students go away, they form relationships or they start living in another area and sometimes they don't come back. This is hoping to keep our best and brightest here."
Vaughan said although Lambton College has offered a collaborative program with the University of Windsor for many years, a stand-alone program would also be financially beneficial to students who may face barriers.
"Financially it's much more feasible. For anyone who has a family, that's such a barrier, or if they're looking after people who need additional care, it's definitely a challenge. Sometimes it wasn't even feasible for students to pursue a nursing degree because they had these responsibilities."
Meantime, the provincial government has provided $591,942 to help increase enrollment in nursing programs at Lambton College. The funding directly benefits the education of 60 additional practical nursing students and five Bachelor of Science in Nursing students involved in the collaborative program.
With files from Josh Boyce