CHED to pilot-test postgraduate nursing education program

MANILA, Philippines — A one-year Master’s in Nursing Education degree will be pilot-tested by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Implementing guidelines for higher education institutions that seek to offer the new graduate degree were launched yesterday.

Registered nurses with at least one year of clinical experience may take the degree.

“This is our response to President Marcos’ directive to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty in the country,” said CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera III.

The curriculum requires students to pass 30 teaching and practical course units and the comprehensive examination and teacher portfolio assessment.

Nursing faculty who are non-graduate degree holders can be credited up to nine academic units, depending on their teaching experience.

Up to six units can be credited to nurses with six years of clinical experience.

The program will be pilot-tested in 16 schools nationwide: the University of Santo Tomas, Trinity University of Asia, Centro Escolar University, Cebu Normal University, Silliman University, Bicol University, Unibersidad de Santa Isabel, Camarines Sur Polytechnic College, Southern Luzon State University and Adventist University of the Philippines.

Also included are the West Visayas State University, Saint Louis University, Mariano Marcos State University, St. Paul University Tuguegarao, San Pedro College Davao City and Western Mindanao State University.

Private and public universities and colleges need to secure authority from CHED to offer the program.

Only schools with proper accreditation for their nursing programs and those with an 80 percent average passing rate in the nursing licensure examination for the past five years will be eligible to offer the program.

In 2023, Marcos ordered CHED to address the shortage of nurses in the country due to migration.