The UNMC College of Nursing and the Al-Zaytoonah Private University (AZPU) of Jordan, have established an affiliation to advance nursing education in Jordan and the Arab region.
On Monday (Sept. 20), the UNMC College of Nursing formalized a three-year contract affiliation with AZPU that will include sharing its traditional and online nursing education and clinical curriculum. It also will provide faculty training in integrating online courses into traditional curriculum.
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From left to right: UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., Al-Zaytoonah Private University President Naser Saleh, Ph.D., and UNMC College of Medicine Dean Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., sign an affiliation agreement. |
During Monday’s signing ceremony, UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., welcomed the Jordanian delegation to UNMC and Nebraska. “Our goal at UNMC is to be a world-class academic health science center,” he said. “This relationship we’re developing with Al-Zaytoonah Private University is a wonderful example of extending the expertise we have in nursing, particularly in distance education programs. We’re excited about the exchanges and possibilities with your university.”
“The visit here is very important. We are looking to improve the quality of our nursing programs,” said Naser Saleh, Ph.D., president of AZPU, which is south of Amman, Jordan. “We want to expose our students to outstanding universities so they can have a better chance of getting a job. We feel we’ve done our job when they get the best education and they’re serving the community. This is also one way we connect with other universities.”
Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., dean of the UNMC College of Nursing, said the college would share its model of online nursing education to help AZPU become a leader for Arabic nursing education. “The goal is to support Al-Zaytoonah Private University in becoming a hub for nursing education throughout the Arab world,” Dr. Tilden said.
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UNMC and Al-Zaytoonah Private University (AZPU) representatives at the signing ceremony included, from left: Sheila Ryan, Ph.D., Charlotte Peck Lienemann & Alumni Distinguished Chair, UNMC College of Nursing, and director of International Nursing Education Programs; Iyad Al-Qirem, member, board of the trustee council, AZPU; Majeda El-Banna, Ph.D., assistant professor of nursing, AZPU; Galeb Saleh, Ph.D., dean of economics and business administration, AZPU; Naser Saleh, Ph.D., AZPU president; Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., dean of the UNMC College of Nursing; and Harold M. Maurer, M.D., UNMC chancellor. |
The impetus for the alliance originated with discussions between Dr. Ryan and Majeda El-Banna, Ph.D., a May 2004 graduate of the UNMC College of Nursing doctoral program.
“Jordan is advanced economically and politically respected throughout Arab countries,” Dr. Ryan said. “Dr. El-Banna and I discussed creating a center in Jordan for UNMC’s nursing educational outreach programs.”
Officials say the advantages of the partnership include raising the quality of nursing education, which ultimately improves patient care, and addressing nursing shortages in Jordan and the Arab region. There are eight colleges of nursing in Jordan.
Dr. Ryan said the UNMC College of Nursing, which has more than 75 online nursing courses, has students enrolled in master’s and doctoral degrees across the country.
“This partnership is an extension of the excellence of this faculty, which has developed and delivered distance education programs here for the last 20 years,” Dr. Ryan said. “We are maximizing that investment globally.”
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University leaders exchanged gifts after a signing ceremony that established an affiliation between UNMC and Al-Zaytoonah Private University. Here, UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., left, presents an art glasswork paperweight to AZPU President Naser Saleh, Ph.D. |
“Rather than watch the instructor demonstrate a task once, then expect the student to perform the task, we will use a learning approach that reinforces practice using sophisticated tools in a simulated environment,” Dr. Ryan said. “It will help their faculty move beyond the ‘watch me, then do it’ model.”
The collaboration affiliation also will include consulting and assistance with accreditation processes, faculty and student exchanges, planning regional and global nursing continuing education programs, research collaboration and seeking global funding resources to support selected shared programs. UNMC also will assist AZPU faculty interested in pursuing UNMC’s online master’s and doctoral programs.
Dr. El-Banna said she was impressed by the academic and technological educational tools, while pursuing her doctoral nursing degree at UNMC. “I wanted to have the same things in my country that you have here,” Dr. El-Banna said.
Dr. Ryan, meanwhile, is impressed by Dr. Saleh’s vision and philosophy of online learning. “He already has asked faculty at AZPU to begin preparing online courses in all the college’s academic programs,” she said. “He wants to advance the quality of their nursing education in order to be a stronger resource to their community.”
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Dr. Ryan said she and others hope the nursing model will expand into other disciplines of health education.
“UNMC wants to be known as world-class,” Dr. Ryan said. “The College of Nursing wants to be in the top 10. One way is to be visible in the world. Our online nursing programs are light-years ahead of other programs, even among the top 15 schools of nursing in the country.”
The UNMC College of Nursing leads the way at UNMC in the use of innovative technology to deliver instruction to students at a distance, including throughout Nebraska, regionally, nationally and internationally. About half of the college’s students are enrolled in distance education programs. Distance education programs, which were born from the need to serve rural Nebraskans, now serve as a key instrument in the effort to resolve the nursing shortage.
College officials say in the past five years, many “brick and mortar” classrooms have been replaced by “virtual” classrooms. At UNMC, College of Nursing faculty members were the first to adapt their instruction to the medium of interactive television more than 25 years ago.
In the past nine years, the college has obtained six multi-year grants yielding more than $8.5 million in federal training grants to fund their efforts to extend programs to students not able to attend class at one of its four divisions.
AZPU representatives at the signing included: Naser Saleh, Ph.D., president; Iyad Al-Qirem and Galeb Saleh, Ph.D., dean of economics and business administration; and Majeda El-Banna, Ph.D., assistant professor of nursing. During their three-day stay, the delegation will tour hospital areas, visit with faculty and attend various social functions.