Students thinking of studying to become nurses, midwives or speech and language therapists at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are being assured of the highest standards of teaching and job prospects ahead of proposed Government changes to funding.
In its Autumn Statement, the Government announced that it would be changing the way nursing, midwifery and Allied Health Professional (AHP) pre-registration education in England is funded.
Currently, students training in these areas benefit from state bursaries covering the cost of tuition fees.
But from August 2017, these bursaries will be replaced by means-tested maintenance and tuition loans taken out like students on other courses.
As with other students, those receiving the new loans will repay them through instalments once their salary passes a certain threshold (currently above £21,000).
The first students which would be affected by the changes will be those starting in the September 2017 intake. Any students already studying or starting before this date will be unaffected and continue to receive the bursary.
DMU is currently accepting applications for all courses for September 2016, with Midwifery, Adult, Learning Disability and Mental Health Nursing benefiting from an additional intake in March 2017.
In addition, for anyone interested in studying either Adult or Mental Health Nursing who have already achieved the entry requirements, there are a limited number of places available on our January 2016 intake.
A great way to find out more about our courses - for either 2016 or 2017 entry - is to book on to one of our Open Days, where you get a feel for our campus and get answers to any questions you might have about studying here.
Dr Simon Oldroyd, Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences said: "The proposed changes to funding will in no way affect the quality of teaching we offer on all our courses. DMU will continue to offer courses in Nursing, Midwifery and Human Communication, delivering excellent standards of teaching to all our students.
"We are proud of the courses we offer and the results they deliver - 100% of our nursing and midwifery graduates are in work or further study within six months of graduating here, along with 95.7% of our Speech and Language Therapy graduates.
"Recently, we were named as one of the top 40 places to study nursing in the UK by The Sunday Times. And 91% of our nursing and midwifery students also told us that they found our staff were enthusiastic about what they teach, along with 96% of our Speech and Language Therapy students saying our staff made the subject interesting.
"A difference in funding won't change this but we would urge those thinking of training in nursing, midwifery or as Speech and Language Therapist to apply as soon as possible and take advantage of the remaining bursaries."
For more information on how the changes in policy will affect health education in England, The Council of Deans has put together some background information here.
Posted on Wednesday 9 December 2015