News

New £1,000 nursing bursaries

Published 8 November 2012

The University of Brighton has created two new £1,000 bursaries to support nurses' learning and improve care for patients.

The news follows calls from the Wills Commission on Nursing for all nurses to be given opportunities to obtain more qualifications and to take on greater responsibilities.

The University of Brighton's new Barleycorn Award for Professional Development is named after one of its recent graduates who is now a practising nurse, Donna Barleycorn. Last year Donna was awarded a prestigious Florence Nightingale Scholarship to research nurse trauma care in England and South Africa.

An anonymous benefactor is helping finance the bursaries and Donna will be offering personal mentorship for award winners to support them in their studies and in developing better care for patients.

The university's School of Nursing and Midwifery will award the bursaries each year to support undergraduate continuous professional education nursing students who want to undertake the dissertation module of their course. The awards are intended to "support and nurture ambition, individual endeavour and enterprise, and for winners to use the opportunity to develop the profession and improve care for patients."

Professor Shirley Bach, head of the school, said: "These awards will not simply be given to the best students, but to those with a personal ambition and drive to improve care and who can maximise the benefits that the award can provide."

Professor Bach added: "We want to thank the benefactor and Donna for supporting nursing education in Brighton. It is especially important now as all newly qualified nurses will need to hold a full undergraduate degree. This will give us an opportunity to assist nurses with diplomas to top up to a full degree, especially those whose sponsorship does not extend to the dissertation module."

Donna said: "I hope that the local business community will be encouraged to support and to invest in these awards so that nurses in Brighton can be encouraged to develop their skills.

"I am very pleased and excited about this award. I have received a great deal of support in my progress as a nurse, particularly as a Nightingale Scholar and I want to repay that belief by supporting other nurses in training and to carry forward the ethos of professional development for all nurses."