The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) will take over two nursing courses from the University of Stirling in the next academic year.
The pre-registration nurse education programme for BSc mental health nursing and BSc adult nursing are currently delivered by the University of Stirling in Inverness and Stornoway.
But the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has now given the final approval required to allow the transfer of the programmes to the north.
Professor Crichton Lang, UHI deputy principal, said: “We are delighted to have gained institutional and programme approval from the NMC, which will allow us to start recruiting students for next year.
“These nursing programmes will be an important part of our new School of Health, Social Care and Life Sciences which will align and develop our curriculum and research to meet the needs of the health and social care sectors in our region.”
Kate Forbes, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, also welcomed the news yesterday. She said: “Historically one of the problems the Highlands and Islands has always faced has been its younger people having to move away from home for further study.
“This has led to depopulation, as after they have completed their studies quite often they remain away from home for at least the early part of their careers.
“I think it’s absolutely fantastic that UHI will be able to deliver these new nursing courses in Inverness and Stornoway, and they are to be congratulated for their hard work in pulling this off.
“The more opportunities we have to retain our young people – as well as attract others to come north and study – the better.”
She added: “It is no secret that finding nurses in the Highlands and Islands has proved challenging, simply due to our smaller population and also the difficulty in tempting people to relocate further north.
“The more nurses we can train and hopefully transition into full-time employment will presumably also help reduce agency nursing costs for the likes of NHS Highland”.
Professor Jayne Donaldson, dean of the faculty of health sciences and sport at the University of Stirling, said: “I am pleased that the transfer of the pre-registration adult and mental health nursing courses in Inverness and Stornoway is progressing and that the University of the Highlands and Islands now has full NMC course validation.”