Another school year is right around the corner. As a result, the most recent state Board of Regents meeting assessed the state’s nursing shortage and university admissions requirements.
Each school year means opportunities for the state Board of Regents to assess situations and adjust.
For Janice Minder, vice president of academic policy and planning, that means looking at admissions.
“What we tried to do is look at our stakeholders, our prospective students, to say what would they need in order to easily identify what the requirements are for that population of students," Minder said. "So, the policies you have set before you have three overarching policies, they include definitional sections, immunization requirements, and standardized testing.”
This was the first draft proposal, with the second to be heard at the October meeting.
“Each of the policies therefor after it follow the prospective student populations, so the traditional student, the post-traditional, the international student and graduate degree students," Minder said. "These policies are meant to be streamlined a little bit more so parents or those stakeholders can easily identify what is required of those populations of students.”
The first draft reading was approved by the board, but it was a full docket at the meeting.
South Dakota’s nursing shortage is a serious problem for the health care network. However, Michael Wanous, provost at Northern State University, said they’re seeing more students entering the track.
“We’re seeing growth in students that are actually in the pre-nursing track and also seeing growth in the number of students who are asking about nursing when they’re in communication with admissions," Wanous said. "Maybe not 100% of those will successfully be nurses, but I expect there certainly will be more in the next 12 months who want to start in fall of 2025.”
Following the discussion, NSU received accreditation for its new nursing program.