BCIT Specialty Nurses offered new pathway to UVic Master of Nursing program

BCIT UVic School of Nursing

First of its kind in Canada, this pathway is designed to accelerate advanced practice nursing professionals into much needed leadership and teaching roles.

(Victoria and Burnaby, BC) The need -- and the opportunity -- for nurses with advanced practice and specialized knowledge has never been greater.  Katherine Kennedy, Associate Dean of BCIT’s School of Health Specialty Nursing programs, and Susan Duncan, director of UVic’s School of Nursing have worked together to help develop a new educational pathway for advanced practice nursing to help meet service needs facing B.C.’s health system.

With the new pathway between the two schools, any nursing professional holding a bachelor’s degree and a BCIT Advanced Certificate in Specialty Nursing may receive transfer credit to the online, two-year UVic Master of Nursing program. Qualified applicants will receive 4.5 units of block credit (equal to one third of the coursework) upon admission with a choice of Advanced Practice Leadership or Nurse Educator options.

This new pathway was specifically designed to integrate the UVic Master of Nursing program with BCIT’s nine areas of Specialty Nursing. “We understand the growing demand for senior level nurse leaders and educators with specialized knowledge,” says Duncan. “By accelerating professional readiness for advanced practice nursing, this pathway could stem increasing pressures to better support health service delivery.”

We have successfully graduated our first cohort of 12 students in 2020. “We strive to enhance service delivery at the point of care and this new pathway serves as an important milestone toward developing leaders and educators with specialized knowledge and practice,” says Kennedy.

In order to qualify for this MN pathway applicants must have:

  1. Successfully completed a bachelor’s degree in Nursing with a minimum overall GPA of 5.0 (B) on the UVic scale of 9.0.
  2. Successfully completed a BCIT Advanced Certificate in Specialty Nursing with a minimum overall GPA of 5.0 (B) on the UVic scale of 9.0.
  3. The BCIT Advanced Certificate in Specialty Nursing was completed after the BSN.
  4. None of the Advanced Certificate Speciality Nursing courses were applied to BSN credential.
    And,
  5. None of the BSN courses were applied to the Advanced Certificate in Specialty Nursing credential.

Tuition and timelines

The UVIC tuition structure is based on the graduate program rather than individual courses. Students must pay a minimal total program regardless of transfer credits received.  However, if a student takes longer to complete than the standards set out by the University, the student will be required to pay additional fees beyond the minimum total program fee. Students receiving block transfer credit equivalent of 4.5 credits for the Advanced Nursing Specialties Certificate will be required to pay the minimum total program fee distributed according to part-time or full-time status.

To learn more or to apply, visit the UVic School of Nursing website or contact:

Paul Meier, Graduate Education Advisor
University of Victoria – School of Nursing
, 250-721-7961