¹ú²úÂ×Àí has announced a partnership with the College of The Albemarle in North Carolina for nursing students.
Students seeking an associate's degree in nursing at the college will be able to work toward their bachelor of science degree in nursing from ¹ú²úÂ×Àí at the same time to expedite their studies.
This is the first articulation agreement of its kind between ¹ú²úÂ×Àí's online nursing program and a college in North Carolina. Old Dominion sees this as another opportunity to help nursing students prepare for their careers in a field where bachelor's degrees are becoming increasingly necessary.
In fact, the program was triggered by one student's aspirations.
"A student was accepted to College of Albemarle's nursing program and wanted to apply to ¹ú²úÂ×Àí's online nursing degree concurrently, but College of The Albemarle was not a partner at that time," says Janice Hawkins, chief academic adviser of Old Dominion's School of Nursing. "I met with the program director, and we made it happen. The fact that it was student-driven really speaks to how ¹ú²úÂ×Àí is meeting the academic needs of students."
This won't benefit just the nurses.
"Increasing the percentage of BSN-prepared RNs at the bedside has been associated with better patient outcomes and lower hospitalization costs," Hawkins says. "As a result, most hospital employers prefer to hire BSN graduates. Concurrent enrollment programs such as the partnership between ¹ú²úÂ×Àí and COA offer an innovative, efficient and affordable pathway to the BSN degree."
¹ú²úÂ×Àí, located in the coastal city of Norfolk, is Virginia's entrepreneurial-minded doctoral research university and has been delivering distance learning programs for 30 years. We offer more than 100 programs through ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíOnline in a variety of formats, allowing students to complete degree programs across the world. ¹ú²úÂ×Àí serves more than 24,600 students annually by providing the same rigorous academics online and on-campus. Learn more about ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíOnline's programs by visiting online.odu.edu.
For more information on this program, visit .
