AMMAN -- The University of Jordan (UJ) inaugurated the first PhD nursing programme in the country on Wednesday.
The ceremony, held at the university's Said Al Mufti Auditorium under the patronage of HRH Princess Muna, was attended by nursing faculty professors, students and administrators.
Eight students have enrolled in the three- to four-year doctoral programme, which seeks to "fulfil the objective of developing the body of nursing knowledge and promoting nursing education, practice and research at the national and international level," UJ Nursing Dean Wasileh Petro said during the event.
The doctoral programme, which has been in the works since 2001, marks an important step in the Kingdom's nursing profession.
When UJ first offered a bachelors degree in nursing in 1972, the programme had 24 students. Today, the university has one-third of the country's 3,600 nursing students, spread among nine universities.
The aim of the new degree is not quantitative, UJ President Abdul Rahim Hunaiti stressed, but rather qualitative.
Candidates must compete for seats, and UJ accepts nominations from other universities. One place is reserved for a candidate from the Ministry of Health.
One of the key components of the PhD programme is its coordination with foreign institutions. UJ has signed memoranda of understanding for faculty and student exchanges with five universities abroad: Case Western University and Felician College in the US, Charles Darwin University in Australia, British Columbia University in Canada, and Glasgow Caledonian University in the UK.
"Today we stand in solidarity and joy strengthening the ties of friendship, mutual respect and collegial relationships," said Mary Norton of Felician College, who was a Fulbright scholar to Jordan in 1986.
"Slowly, we're really improving," HRH Princess Muna, Jordanian Nursing Council president, told The Jordan Times after the ceremony.
"This is something that Jordan really needs."
There are currently 8,000 registered nurses in the Kingdom.
By Victoria Macchi
© Jordan Times 2005
