Approved by the Board of Regents at its last meeting, the UH-Victoria School of Nursing will be moving to the UH-Sugar Land campus at the recommendation of the Sugar Land Task Force.
“The success of the UH-V nursing program is highly dependent upon its facilities in Sugar Land. It is important that the nursing program at Sugar Land be expanded to include master’s and doctoral degrees. It is also important that these programs continue to be conducted in metropolitan Houston near the Texas Medical Center,” according to the task force’s final report.
“For these reasons, and consistent with the Sugar Land Task Force Nursing Subcommittee’s recommendation, this Task Force recommends that the existing nursing program at Sugar Land be transferred to the University of Houston and made part of its newly organized UH Health Science Center. This does not preclude UH-V continuing with certain nursing programs in Victoria or elsewhere.”
The UH System will begin implementing a multi-year plan in Fall 2014, through which UH will become the exclusive provider of baccalaureate and graduate programs at the Sugar Land campus, consistent with the Board of Regents’ decision to transfer campus administration to UH.
“In this transition at UHS, Chancellor (Renu) Khator has promised that no current student will be left stranded, no existing faculty contract broken and no campus hurt,” professor and UH-V School of Nursing founding dean Kathryn Tart said.
The UH-V nursing program surpassed every other university in Texas to claim the highest first-time pass rate of 2013.
About 97.3 percent of the students in UH-V’s Second Degree Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing program received a passing rate on the National Council Licensure Exam-Registered Nurse the first time they took it, according to the Texas Board of Nursing. The state average for all RN programs was 83.99 percent, and the national average was 84.28 percent.
“UH-V officials are studying the task force recommendations. It is expected that the next stage will be to develop a transition plan with participation by UH-V officials and others,” Tart said.