MEANING, NATURE AND AIMS OF EDUCATION
Education is a systematic process through which a child or an adult acquires knowledge, experience, skill and sound attitude. It makes an individual civilized, refined, cultured and educated. For a civilized and socialized society, education is the only means. Its goal is to make an individual perfect. Every society gives importance to education because it is a panacea for all evils. It is the key to solve the various problems of life.
Education has been described as a process of waking up to life:
- Waking up to life and its mysteries, its solvable problems and the ways to solve the problems, and celebrate the mysteries of life.
- Waking up to the interdependencies of all things, to the threat to the global village, to the power within the human race to create alternatives, to the obstacles entrenched in economic, social and political structures that prevent the waking up.
- Education in the broadest sense of the term is meant to aid the human being in his/her pursuit of wholeness. Wholeness implies the harmonious development of all the potentialities God has given to a human person.
- True education is the harmonious development of the physical, mental, moral (spiritual), and social faculties, the four dimensions of life, for a life of dedicated service.
Etymological Meaning of Education
Etymologically, the word ‘education’ has been derived from different Latin words:
- ‘Educare’, which means ‘to bring out’ or ‘to nourish’.
- ‘Educere’, which means ‘to lead out’ or ‘to draw out’.
- ‘Educatum’, which means ‘act of teaching’ or ‘training’.
- ‘Educatus’, which means ‘to bring up, rear, educate’.
- ‘Educatio’, which means ‘a breeding, a bringing up, a rearing.’
The Greek word ‘pedagogy’ is sometimes used for education. The most common Indian word ‘shiksha’ is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root ‘shas,’ which means ‘to discipline’, ‘to control’, ‘to instruct’ and ‘to teach’. Similarly the word ‘vidya’ is derived from Sanskrit verbal root ‘vid’, which means ‘to know’. Vidya is thus the subject matter of knowledge. This shows that disciplining the mind and imparting knowledge where the foremost considerations in India.
Back in the 1,500s, the word education meant ‘the raising of children’, but it also meant ‘the training of animals.’ While there are probably a few teachers who feel similar to animal trainers, education these days has come to mean either ‘teaching’ or ‘the process of acquiring knowledge.’
DEFINITIONS
Since time immemorial, education is estimated as the right road to progress and prosperity. Different educationists’ thoughts from both Eastern and Western side have explained the term 4‘education’ according to the need of the hour. Various educationists have given their views on education. Some important definitions are:
- ‘By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in man—body, mind and spirit.’— Mahatma Gandhi
- ‘Education enables the mind to find out the ultimate truth, which gives us the wealth of inner light and love. and gives significance to life.’— Rabindranath Tagore
- ‘Education is the process of the individual mind, getting to its full possible development.’— Dr. Zakir Hussain
- ‘Education is the manifestation of divine perfection already existing in man.’— Swami Vivekananda
- ‘Education is the creation of sound mind in a sound body.’— Aristotle
- ‘Education is the child's development from within.’— Rousseau
- ‘Education is complete living.’— Herbert Spencer
- ‘Education is the capacity to feel pleasure and pain at the right moment.’— Plato
- ‘Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body.’— Aristotle
- ‘Education is natural, harmonious and progressive development of man's innate powers.’— Pestalozzi
- ‘Education is enfoldment of what is already enfolded in the germ.’— Froebel
- ‘Education is the complete development of the individuality of the child.’— TP Nunn
- ‘Education is the process of living through a continuous reconstruction of experiences.’— John Dewey
- ‘Education is a liberating force and in our age it is also a democratizing force, cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances.’— Indira Gandhi
- John Locke said, ‘Plants are developed by cultivation and men by education’. This world would have been enveloped in intellectual darkness if it had not been illuminated by the light of education. It is right to say that the story of civilization is the story of education. Thus, education is an integral part of human life. It is the basic condition for a development of a whole man and vital instrument for accelerating the well-being and prosperity by the light of education.
NATURE OF EDUCATION
As is the meaning of education, so is its nature. It is very complex.
- Education is a life-long process: Education is a continuous and lifelong process. It starts from the womb of the mother and continues till death. It is the process of development from infancy to maturity. It includes the effect of everything, which influences human personality.
- Education is a systematic process: It refers to transact its activities through a systematic institution and regulation.
- Education is development of individual and the society: It is called a force for social development, which brings improvement in every aspect in the society.
- Education is modification of behavior: Human behavior is modified and improved through educational process.
- Education is a training: Human senses, mind, behavior, activities; skills are trained in a constructive and socially desirable way.
- Education is instruction and direction: It directs and instructs an individual to fulfill his/her desires and needs for exaltation of his/her whole personality.
- Education is life: Life without education is meaningless and like the life of a beast. Every aspect and incident needs education for its sound development.
- Education is continuous reconstruction of the experiences: As per the definition of John Dewey education reconstructs and remodels the experiences towards socially desirable way.
- Education helps in individual adjustment: A man is a social being. If he is not able to adjust himself in different aspects of life his personality cannot remain balanced. Through the medium of education he learns to adjust himself with the friends, class fellows, parents, relations, neighbors, teachers, etc.
- Education is balanced development: Education is concerned with the development of all faculties of the child. it performs the functions of the physical, mental, aesthetic, moral, economic, spiritual development of the individual so that the individual may get rid of his animal instincts by sublimating the same so that he becomes a civilized person.
- Education is a dynamic process: Education is not a static, but a dynamic process, which develops the child according to changing situations and times. It always induces the individual towards progress. It reconstructs the society according to the changing needs of the time and place of the society.
- Education is a bipolar process: According to Adams, education is a bipolar process in which one personality acts on another to modify the development of other person. The process is not only conscious but deliberate.
- Education is a three dimensional process: John Dewey has rightly remarked, ‘All educations proceeds by participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race.’ Thus it is the society, which will determine the aims, contents and methods of teachings. In this way the process of education consists of three poles—the teacher, the child and the society.
- Education as growth: The end of growth is more growth and the end of education is more education. According to John Dewey, ‘an individual is a changing and growing personality.’ The purpose of education is to facilitate the process of his/her growth. Therefore, the role of education is countless for a perfect society and man. It is necessary for every society and nation to bring holistic happiness and prosperity to its individuals.
CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS OF EDUCATION
- Education is a bipolar as well as tripolar process.
- Education is a child-centred process.
- Education is a deliberate as well as internal process.
- Education is a psychological process.
- Education is not literacy.
- Education is a sociological process.
- Education is a lifelong process.
- Education is more than instruction and teaching.
- Education is more than giving information.
AIMS OF EDUCATION
Need of Aims of Education
Education is a purposeful activity. By education we intend to bring certain desirable changes in the students. Education is a conscious effort and, as such, it has definite aims and objectives. In the light of these aims the curriculum is determined and the academic achievements of the student are measured. Education without aim is like a boat without its rudder. Aims give direction to activity.
Absence of an aim in education makes it a blind alley. Every stage of human development had some aim of life. The aims of life determine aims of education. The aims of education have changed from age to age and thus it is dynamic because the aims of life are dynamic. Aims give direction to activities. Aims of education are formulated keeping in view the needs of situation. Human nature is multisided with multiple needs, which are related to life. Educational aims are correlated to ideals of life.
The goal of education should be the full flowering of the human on this earth. According to a UNESCO study, “the physical, intellectual, emotional and ethical integration of the individual into a complete man/woman is the fundamental aim of education.”
The goal of education is also to form children into human persons committed to work for the creation of human communities of love, fellowship, freedom, justice and harmony. Students are to be moulded only by making them experience the significance of these values in the school itself. Teachers could achieve this only by the lived example of their lives manifested in hundreds of small and big transactions with students in word and deed.
Individual and Social Aims
Individual aims and social aims are the most important aims of education. They are opposed to each other individual aims gives importance for the development of the individuality. Social aim gives importance to the development of society through individual not fulfilling his desire. But it will be seen that development of individuality assumes meaning only in a social environment.
Education is essential for every society and individual. It is life itself, but not a preparation for life. Man has various qualities. These qualities of the individual should be developed for the improvement of the country. So education plays a complementary role for overall individual, social and national development. It enables an individual to realize his/her highest self and goal. The key functions and roles of education towards individual, society and country are listed below.
Functions of Education Towards Individual
- Development of inborn potentialities: Education helps the child to develop the inborn potentialities of child providing scope to develop.
- Modifying behavior: Education helps to modify the past behavior through learning and through different agencies of education.
- All-round development: Education aims at the all round development of child—physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual.
- Developing personality: The whole personality of the child is developed physically, intellectually, morally, socially, aesthetically and spiritually. He/She is recognized in the society.
- Helping for adjustability: Man differs from beast. Man has reasoning and thinking power. Man tries his best to adjust with his own environment through education.
Individual Aims
Sir Percy Nunn observes, ‘Nothing goods enters into the human world except in and through the free activities of individual men and women and that educational practice must be shaped the individual. Education should give scope to develop the inborn potentialities through maximum freedom.’
Because:
- Biologists believe that every individual is different from others. Every child is a new and unique product and a new experiment with life. Thompson says, ‘Education is for the individual’. Individual should be the center of all educational efforts and activities.
- Naturalists believe that central aim of education is the autonomous development of the individual. Rousseau said, ‘Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Author of Nature, but everything degenerates in the hands of man.’ God makes all things good, man meddles with them and they become evil. God creates everything good man makes it evil. So individual should be given maximum freedom for its own development.
- Psychologists believe that education is an individual process because of individual differences. No two individuals are alike. So education should be according to the interest of the individual.
Functions of Education Towards Society
Social change and control
The society is never station. It is progressive and dynamic. The child lives in society. It is the social environment where the personality of the child can be developed. The old traditions, customs are preserved and transmitted with the situations, which are ever changing. We should not think or believe in the blind beliefs, which are hindrances towards the development. Education helps to walk with the development of science and technology.
Reconstruction of experiences
Education is lifelong process. Life is education and education is life. Life is full of experiences. One cannot live with his/her past experiences, which are unable to adjust in the society. So education helps the individual to reconstruct the experience and adjust with the environment.
Development of social and moral value
Society is always in tension with narrowism. There is no social or moral value. Now the man is behaving similar to an animal. Animality can be changed with moral education. Education teaches the moral value and social value such as cooperation, tolerance, sympathy, fellow feelings, love affection, respect towards elder, helping the poor and needy persons.
Providing opportunity or equality
Indian Constitution has introduced the term ‘equality’ because we are not getting equal opportunities in all aspects. Education teaches us to give equal opportunities in all aspects irrespective of caste, creed, color, sex and religion.8
Social aim
The supporters believe that society or state is supreme or real. The individual is only a means. The progress of the society is the aim of education. Education is for the society and of the society. The function of education is for the welfare of the state. The state will make the individual as it desires. It prepares the individual to play different roles in society. Individuality has no value and personality is meaningless apart from society. If society will develop individual will develop automatically. Here society plays an important role.
Synthesis between Individual and Social Aims of Education
Individual aim and social aim of education go independently. Both are opposing to each other. It is not in reality. Neither the individual nor the society, can exist. The individual is the product of the society, while society finds its advancement in the development of its individual member.
Individual cannot develop in vacuum. According to John Adams, ‘individuality requires a social medium to grow.’ And TP Nunn says, ‘individuality develops in social environment.’
Functions of Education Towards Nation
- Inculcation of civic and social responsibility: Education helps to make rising generation to understand its rights and duties as citizens of a democratic country.
- Training for leadership: The leadership quality of the individual is developed when he/she participates in all spheres of social, political, religious and educational activities.
- National integration: We are living in one country having diversities in respect of color, caste, language, diet, dress, habits and physical environment. Educational integration leads to emotional integration. Education trains people for unity, not for locality, for democracy and not for dictatorship. Education serves the most important end of educating the man.
- Total national development: Education helps for bringing about total national development by developing its all aspects, i.e. social, economic, cultural, spiritual, moral, educational, etc.
Therefore, really education is an essential ingredient for all ages and stages of the life of an individual, society as well as the nation. Education can be a real panacea for all social evils.
Vocational Aim
The vocational aim is also known as ‘the utilitarian aim or the bread and butter aim.’ The above stated ideals of education are useless unless these aims enable us to procure the primary needs of our life food, shelter and clothing. Education must help the child to earn his/her livelihood. Education, therefore, must prepare the child for some future profession or vacation or trade. The vocational aim is a narrow aim of education. Therefore, the vocational aim is not a complete aim by itself.
Knowledge or Information Aim
Educationists who hold the knowledge or information aim of education justify their stand with powerful arguments. They argue that knowledge is indispensable for all right action and it is the source of all power. ‘It is knowledge, which makes a realist a visionary successful in any profession’.
Culture Aim
The cultural aim of education has been suggested to supplement the narrow view of knowledge aim. The cultural aim of education is no doubt a nice aim as it produces men of culture. But it is ambiguous and has too many meanings. It cannot serve as the major aim of education.9
Character Formation Aim or the Moral Aim
Character is the cream of life and, as such, it should be the aim of education. Vivekananda and Gandhi both emphasized character building in education. Character formation or moral education is concerned with the whole conduct of man. The Secondary Education Commission (1951–52) has rightly remarked: ‘character education has to be visualized not in a social vacuum, but with reference to contemporary socioeconomic and political situation.’ Therefore, we can conclude that only character building cannot be the aim of education.
Spiritual Aim
The idealist thinkers have opined that the spiritual development of an individual should be the supreme aim of education. Mahatma Gandhi has attached great importance to spiritual values in education.
Adjustment Aim
Adjustment is the primary rule of human life. Without adjustment to environment none can survive. Life is a struggle for adjustment. In the words of Horney ‘education should be man's adjustment to his nature, to his fellows and to the ultimate nature of the cosmos.
Leisure Aim
‘Free and unoccupied time’ of an individual is generally known as leisure. It is a time when we can use it in a creative way. During leisure we can pursue an activity for own sake and not for earning a living, which is dull and monotonous. During leisure we can also regain the lost energy and enthusiasm. Leisure can make the life dynamic and charming.
Citizenship Training Aim
A citizen has to perform multifarious civic duties and responsibilities. Children should be so trained by education that they can successfully discharge their various civic duties and responsibilities. The Secondary Education Commission in India (1951–1952) has greatly emphasized citizenship training in schools. Such training includes the development of certain qualities to character such as clear thinking, clearness in speech and writing, art of community living, cooperation, toleration, sense of patriotism and sense of world citizenship.
Complete Living Aim
Some educationists have insisted upon the need of an all—comprehensive aim of education. This viewpoint has led to the development of two aims ‘the complete living aim’ and the ‘harmonious development aim.’ According to Horney ‘there is no one final aim, subordinating all lesser aims to itself. There is something in all these aims, but not everything in any one of them.’
Harmonious Development Aim
Educationists are of the opinion that all the powers and capacities inherited by a child should be developed harmoniously and simultaneously. Gandhiji is a strong advocate of the harmonious development.
Social Aim
From the above discussion it is clearly evident that no individual can live and grow without social context. Individual life became unbearable to man and that is why he formed society. 10Individual security and welfare depend on the society. Individual improvement is conditioned by social progress. Education should make each individual socially efficient. A socially efficient individual is able to earn his/her livelihood.
The Functions of Education
- Ability to convert the young blood of the society into the productive and responsible citizens for the country.
- Creating awareness among the individuals regarding their own self and their surroundings so that they can be aware of their problems and can formulate ways to improve the standards of living.
- Create job opportunities and employment, which improves the gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita income of a country.
- Gives strength and self-confidence in the nation by means of using education as an important weapon for achieving competence.
- To contribute the development of society by providing skillful individuals to the business and government organizations.
NURSING EDUCATION
Nursing education is a professional education, which is consciously and systematically planned and implemented, through instruction, and discipline and aims the harmonious development of the physical, intellectual, social, emotional, aesthetic powers or abilities of the student in order to render professional nursing care to people of all ages, in all phases of health and illness, in a veracity of settings, in the best or highest possible manner.
Objectives of Nursing Education
- To prepare nurses who will give expert bedside nursing care in the hospital and home.
- To provide opportunities through curricular and extracurricular activities for the full development of the personality of each individual student.
- To provide integration of health and social expects.
- To basic purpose of nursing education is to prepare the nurse and able to plan for and give comprehensive nursing care.
- Nurse must have the necessary knowledge, principles, skills and attitudes which are essential to professional nursing practices.
- The nurse educators should guide the learning activities of students by acting as facilitators.
- Nursing students must develop competent health team members with sound judgment, intellectual and moral enlighten, professional competence and expertise.
- Nurse should be competent in teaching, oriented to community health and research–minded.
- Well qualified, competent nurses are needed to meet the needs of people in the society. Nursing care is an important and integral aspects of health care.
- Nursing education should impart scientific and up-to- date knowledge in the areas of medical, social, behavioral and biological sciences.
- Nursing education should have sufficient theory content and practical experiences.
- Nursing education should prepare nurses as good leaders to provide qualitative care.
- To improve the professional development of each nurse and their profession.
- For all round personality development of individual with nursing education nurse will develop and grow as a person of self-awareness, self-direction and self-motivation.
Aims of Nursing Education
- Harmonious development: Nursing education aims the harmonious development of the physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual and esthetic powers or abilities of the student. Harmonious development is essential for achieving the qualities required for leading a successful profession and personal life. In short, nursing education aims to prepare students as good human beings with qualities of a professional nurse.
- Including the right attitude: Right attitude towards nursing form the basic of nursing career. Right attitude helps to adjust with the student life and motivate to achieve excellence in the upcoming professional life. Nursing education offers a variety of learning experience with an attitude among students.
- Knowledge and skill aim: Nursing education provides the much needed knowledge and skill required to practice the profession in a successful manner. Technological advancement in the field of education helps nurse educator to fulfill this aim in a meticulous way.
- Emphasis on high-tech-high-touch approach: High-tech-high-touch approaches in nursing care was devised to preserve the human component of nursing care without undermining the advantages of the technical advancements in the field of patient care. Nurse educators have to motivate the students of maintain the human elements of nursing, while rendering care with the help of sophisticated gadgets.
- Prepare students to take up a role in learning: The model of teacher as the pivotal and dominant figure in education, presenting a variety of information to pupil has practically disappeared. To a certain extent this is applicable to nursing education also. Nurse educator of today is considered as a facilitator of learning, whose main duty is to prepare students to adopt a proactive role in learning so that they will actively participate in the teaching-learning process.
- Professional development: Nursing education prepares the students to render professional nursing care in the best or highest possible manner. Nurse educators can fulfill the professional aspirations of the students by way of providing guidance, arranging adequate learning experience and serving as role models. The need of professional development in this era of competition and knowledge explosion should be explained properly to the students.
- Assist to build a promising career: Nursing profession offers a veriety of career opportunities. Helping students to realize their potential and interests will enable them to build a promising career. Helping to relive their potential and interests will enable them to build a promising career.
- Citizenship: Nursing education should motivate the student to perform his/her duties as a citizen for the welfare of the fellow human being.
- Social aim: Nursing education prepares the student to become a useful member in the society. This will in turn help them to interact effectively with the people and render dedicated care without any discrimination.
- To prepare global nurse: Globalization and liberalization has created world wide opportunities for professional nurses ever than before. Today a competent nurse with good knowledge in English can easily build a career in other nations. Considering the high demand 12of Indian nurses in the international context, we can add nurses one more aim, namely preparation of global nurse.
- Leadership aim: Since nursing profession is experiencing a shortage of eminent leaders. Leadership aim is very important. Nursing education has to nurture leadership abilities among students.
Factors Influencing Nursing Education
- Health needs of the people in the society
- Needs of the student and time
- Philosophy of nursing
- Current trends in general and professional education
- Advances in sciences and technology.
NURSING PROGRAMS
Diversity is the major characteristic of nursing education today. Influenced by a variety of factors such as social change, efforts to achieve full professional status, woman issues, historical factors, public expectations, expectations of nurses themselves, legislation, national studies and constant changes in the healthcare systems many different types of nursing education programs exist.
Meaning and Definition
Nursing educational programs may be defined as in large part that influencing of one group of human beings, the pupils to grow towards defined objectives; utilizing a second group of human beings, the teacher as agents and operating in a setting of third group of human being, the public variously concerned both with objectives and with means used to achieve them.
Nursing Educational Programs
At present the various nursing educational programs are there (Table 1.1). We can classify these programs into following courses.
Certificate Courses
Multipurpose Health Worker Training
The training grew out of the earlier auxiliary nursing and midwifery (ANM) course. The ANM training was for 2 years and mainly covered a maternal and child care, and family welfare. In keeping with the policies of the government of India to have multipurpose health workers, the Indian Nursing Council revised the ANM's syllabus in 1977 and reduced the duration to 18 months. The focus of training is on community health nursing. At the end of the course the candidates are eligible to work in health subcenters. There are about 500 schools in India offering this course in India at present. The multipurpose health assistant (male) [MPHA (M)] training course is also conducted in some states of India with an 18 months duration.
Female Health Supervisor Training
This course was initially meant as a health visitor training course. It went through several modifications in course of time and finally metamorphosed into the present 6 months promotional training. The female health supervisor or MPHA (F) course is currently conducted in 21 centers in India. Besides this basic course, several states have their own promotional courses as requirement for ANMs to be qualified for promotion to supervisors.
General Nursing and Midwifery
The general nursing and midwifery course is conducted in more than 1,000 centers in the country. The syllabus has undergone many revisions according to the changes in health plans and policies of the government and changing trends, and advancements in education, nursing, health sciences and medical technology. The latest revision of the general nursing syllabus by the Indian Nursing Council (INC) in 1988 had reduced the duration of the course from 3.6 years to 3 years. The basic entrance qualification has become intermediate or class XII instead of the earlier 10th class. Both science and arts students are eligible. The focus of general nursing education is care of the sick in the hospital. On passing the candidates are registered as nurses (RN) and as midwives (RM) by the respective state nursing councils.
Degree (Undergraduate)
There are two types of graduate nursing education in India—one is of 4 year basic course for fresh entrance and the second is condensed postbasic course for those who have undergone the GNM course.
4 Year Bachelor of Science in Nursing [BSc (N)]
Graduate nursing education started in India in the year of 1946 in Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMC), Vellore and in the Rajkumari Amrit Kaur (RAK) College of Nursing at Delhi University. At present several universities in India offer the course. The entry qualification is intermediate with biological sciences, physics and chemistry.
The course focuses on preparation of professional nurses for working at the bedside and for taking up leadership roles in public health nursing. The course also includes managerial and teaching subjects to prepare graduates to take up first level teaching and administrative jobs in the hospital. Overall, the graduate nursing course in the country offers a broad base in both arts and sciences, and lays the foundation for a holistic perspective to health and caring.
Post Basic BSc (N)
A 2 year degree course in nursing is offered in several universities in India. This course was specially designed to provide higher educational opportunities for practicing nurses. The entry 14requirement is that they should have completed the general nursing course and XII (usually with science). Most places also ask for 1 year after completing the diploma (GNM) course. Two exams are conducted by the universities one at the end of the 1st year and the other at the end of the 2nd year.
BSc Nursing (IGNOU)
Distance education in postbasic nursing has also been started by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in 1994. This has provided an opening for diploma nurses all over the country to undertake higher education. The IGNOU offers courses through its study centers throughout the country.
Post Basic Diploma Courses
These courses are designed for higher studies in chosen specialties. Normally, the duration is 1 year. Candidates who had successfully completed there GNM/BSc Nursing programs can apply. In some institutes its mandatory to complete 2 years of work experience to attain eligibility for the course. The clinical setting offers plenty of opportunities for the successful candidates. Nurses who successfully complete these programs are given due consideration for promotion.m
The following are the post basic diploma courses, which are taught in various institutes in India:
- Diploma in Neuro Nursing.
- Diploma in Cardiac Nursing.
- Diploma in Psychiatric Nursing.
- Diploma in Critical Care Nursing.
- Diploma in Neonatal Nursing.
- Diploma in Operation Theater Technique.
- Diploma in Nursing Education and Administration.
Candidates who had successfully completed Diploma in Nursing Education and Administration are eligible to be appointed as tutors in School of Nursing.
Postgraduate Nursing Education
Master of Science in Nursing MSc (N) course is presently being offered in several universities in the country. The 2 year course is designed to prepare clinical and community health nursing specialists. Besides clinical specialization the students are thought to conduct research in nursing. A thesis is submitted by each student in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree. Courses in education and administration are given to prepare the students to take up responsibility in education and administration in nursing and allied health areas. The entrance requirement is BSc (N) and 1 year experience as a clinical nurse or instructor. Entrance test is mandatory in reputed institutes. University exams are conducted at the end of the academic year or semesters.
MPhil and PhD programs
Till a few years ago nurses had to travel abroad to study PhD course or seek admission in allied disciplines. In the 80's RAK College of Nursing started an MPhil program as a regular and part time course. Since then several universities started registering candidates for PhD in nursing. Prominent among these are MGR Medical University, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health 15Sciences, SNDT University and Delhi University. The Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) has started both MPhil and PhD program in nursing through support from the WHO.
However, nurses keen to obtain doctorate degrees continue to seek admission into universities and departments with related disciplines such as community health, nutrition, social sciences. The Jawaharlal Nehru University at New Delhi, the Padmavathi Mahila University, Triupathi, and the Center for Development Studies, Trivandrum and the Center for Economic and Social Sciences, Hyderabad are some of the universities and institutes where nurses seek to obtain higher education.