Student nurses have been reassured that it is "business as usual" for their diploma courses at the University of Brighton following the government's announcement that new nurses will have to be qualified to degree level by 2013.
Dr Shirley Bach, head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, said: "It means nurses will be educated to the same level as other health professionals.
"What it doesn't mean is that the current diploma course and those nurses already qualified with a diploma will in any way be devalued.
"I'm pleased that people choosing nursing as a career are not being dissuaded in any way. Inquiries from people wanting to take our diploma courses are continuing to come in."
Dr Bach said nurses continued to have the essential caring and compassionate attributes but were now dealing with the increasingly complex health care needs of a modern society.
But, she said: "The university will continue to provide diploma courses until 2011 and to provide support for diploma nurses to top up their qualifications or to specialise."
The Department of Health plans will mean all new nurses in England will have to be educated to degree level from 2013 in a move designed to "help nurses meet the increasingly complex needs of patients more safely and effectively".
Just over a quarter of the 315,000 nurses in England currently have a degree and the move is designed to match nurses' increased responsibilities which include writing prescriptions.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council, the regulatory body for nurses, is developing new standards for nurse education to be introduced in 2013.
Dr Bach said the new courses will meet the revised regulatory standards set by the council which recommends that all courses for nurses and midwives are at degree level. The council was, she said, committed to meeting the expectations of the public with nurses providing safe and effective care.
"Nurses are often regarded as the cornerstone of health care provision. This new development secures nursing as a profession that meets the basic health care needs of people as well as the increasingly complex care required in new roles and responsibilities."
