Confederation College Announces Stand-alone Four-Year Nursing Degree Program

Confederation College is proud to announce that it will welcome the first intake of students into their new, stand-alone Honours Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program in Fall 2023.

In February 2020, Ontario’s Ministry of Colleges and Universities (MCU) announced that our province’s colleges would be able to offer a stand-alone Honours Bachelor of Science of Nursing (BScN) degree program.

“As a proudly northern institution, Confederation College is in a unique position to serve the healthcare needs and demands for nursing graduates in Thunder Bay and surrounding communities,” said Jill Dunlop, Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities. “By enabling colleges to offer stand-alone nursing degrees, our government is increasing flexibility, reducing barriers, and increasing access to high quality, local education for students, right here in northern Ontario. This is a great step forward in maintaining excellence in nursing education at a time when the need for qualified health care professionals has never been greater.”

The new program builds on Ontario’s recent changes allowing publicly assisted colleges and universities to offer a baccalaureate degree in nursing to increase opportunities for students to access a high-quality education. This includes stand-alone BScN programs offered at universities, colleges and through collaborative university-college partnerships.

“We know there is a growing need for nurses in Northwestern Ontario,” said Confederation College President Kathleen Lynch. “Our Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program offers students the opportunity to complete a hands-on, four-year degree program in our state-of-the-art facilities. Our equipment and resources are also state-of-the-art and replicate the resources students will use in the field, allowing them to transition seamlessly into the workplace. We have embedded our 7 Indigenous Learning Outcomes in the curriculum to reflect the region we serve.” Confederation College is also launching a new Practical Nursing to BScN bridging program, which will begin in 2025, allowing students who have completed the 2-year Practical Nursing (PN) diploma program to bridge into the third year of the BScN program. “This bridging option will allow students who have completed the Practical Nursing diploma the ability to complete their BScN in just over two years. We know our PN graduates have been asking for this opportunity, and we are excited to offer this program in 2025,” added Lynch. This program will not impact students currently enrolled in the Collaborative BScN program between Confederation College and Lakehead University. These students will continue in the Collaborative program until graduation.

Anyone interested in learning more about the BScN program can visit confederationcollege.ca/nursing

Confederation College has been serving the citizens of northwestern Ontario since 1967, meeting the educational needs of students in a catchment area of some 550,000 square kilometres. Along with its main campus in Thunder Bay, Confederation College has seven regional sites located in Dryden, Fort Frances, Greenstone, Kenora, Marathon, Sioux Lookout and Red Lake, as well as a growing Distance Education division.

Confederation College delivers exceptional education and training to an average of 4,800 combined full- and part-time students per year and currently has a total of 600 full- and part-time employees. Confederation’s regional economic impact and contribution is valued at $703.3 million annually.