The University of Houston-Victoria’s online Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree scored significantly higher on graduate satisfaction levels in a national standardized student exit assessment of 277 similar programs with UHV graduates’ overall program satisfaction averaging 92.7 percent.
The assessment, provided through Skyfactor Benchmarks, was given to students of online RN to BSN programs in the last few weeks before they graduated during the 2017-2018 academic year. Students were asked about their satisfaction with their faculty’s ability to relate concepts to the real world, and UHV averaged 94 percent, significantly higher compared with other institutions.
“It’s impressive to see that for a new program our scores were 15 percent to 20 percent higher than other institutions offering an online RN to BSN program,” said Cindy Hudson, UHV nursing program director. “This speaks volumes to the program’s quality faculty and staff and effectiveness, and reveals that students are satisfied and can apply what they learned to their professional practice.”
When students were asked how satisfied they were with the faculty’s ability to draw on the experience of students, UHV scored 87.8 percent, compared with other institutions’ average of 68 percent. UHV scored 90 percent compared with the other institutions’ average of 77.3 percent when students were asked about the ability of the online courses to provide interaction between students and their instructors.
“Students appreciate the accessibility of UHV’s faculty and staff, and recognize they aren’t just a number,” said Norma Hinojosa, manager of nursing student recruitment and marketing for the UHV nursing program. “Students have commented that they feel better prepared for graduate school, and I’m happy to see they’re excited about what they learned and are eager to share it with their peers and coworkers.”
In the areas of satisfaction with student learning, UHV RN to BSN graduates gave an average ranking of 90.8 percent and ranked program effectiveness at an average of 90 percent. These two areas ranked statistically equal to the other institutions’ averages.
“With the information we received from the survey, we hope to continue looking at what we’re doing right and examine areas to improve,” said Fred Litton, dean of the UHV School of Education, Health Professions & Human Development. “The program’s success truly is a team effort, and students can see that it carries over through the program.”
UHV started a new RN to BSN program in August 2016, and in May, the program received full accreditation backdated to Nov. 2017 by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The first group of RN to BSN students graduated from UHV in December.
The RN to BSN program can admit up to 40 students each August and January. December 5 is the application deadline for the spring semester, and generous tuition scholarships still are available for eligible students.
For more information about UHV’s nursing program, contact Hinojosa at 361-570-4210 or nursing@uhv.edu.