The Governing Council of the University of La Laguna has unanimously approved the creation of the Faculty of Nursing, an old demand for this degree that will now have to be endorsed by other instances for its definitive implementation.
The proposal has historical and academic reasons that support it, in the opinion of Alfonso García, vice-dean of this degree in the Faculty of Health Sciences, where it is located so far. In fact, he added, it was approved by the center’s board in 2019, in addition to the fact that it is a degree in which several departments outside the center itself participate, and it also has the support of professional associations.
Nursing studies began with the creation of the university school of the same name, which dates back to 1979. Subsequently, health agreements were signed with the reference hospitals and with the Canary Islands Health Service itself.
With the entry of the European Higher Education Area, the conditions were created for the then diploma course to become a university degree, lasting four years and with 240 academic credits, thus equating it to the rest of the degrees, which had also been in high demand.
In 2010, the La Palma Teaching Unit was launched, from which almost 300 graduates have graduated so far. Alfonso García recalled that it was in 2014 when the Faculty of Health Sciences was created, from which Pharmacy was later separated, on the one hand, and Psychology and Speech Therapy, on the other.
From 1996 to the present, the center has graduated almost 4,000 male and female nurses. The possibility of returning to the original center gives them great satisfaction, he said, an issue that is also in line with the growing relevance that the profession has taken on with the COVID-19 crisis.
Nursing is an autonomous and independent discipline, said the proponent. This fact does not seek to correct the past, but rather to satisfy the wishes of an academic community, he argued, which is why he considered it a thoughtful proposal that has been accepted by the governing bodies of the current faculty.
Other agreements
In another order of things, the vice-rector for Teaching Innovation and Quality, Néstor Torres, presented to the Governing Council a slight modification of the recently approved evaluation regulations, in which it has been stipulated that the review of the exam is a very personal act that can only be It is carried out by the affected student body, who may attend said review accompanied by a person from the university community, without the latter being able to intervene in the aforementioned appearance.
The Governing Council also gave its approval to the multiannual program to improve management in centralized services and promote research, which would result in the hiring of 27 people, of which 19 are technicians, from 1 September 2022 and up to two and a half years.
The manager of the university institution, Juan Manuel Plasencia, explained to the directors that it is a program for the comprehensive improvement of many services, in the sense of enhancing their agility and efficiency, providing coherence to many procedures and promoting broader results in all subjects.
Asked by several members of the collegiate body, the manager clarified that this initiative -approved by 21 votes in favor, four against and five abstentions- does not intend to abuse temporality because in fact an opposition competition for 49 administrative positions is underway, from which a large reserve list will be derived -which is currently exhausted on the administrative scale- to cover substitutions.
These are additional actions to improve the institution, without intervening in the provision of structural positions, he explained. He also added that the program will be launched by making use of the affected treasury remnants without, he repeated, assuming an expense from the regular budget and complying with all legal guarantees.
Improving the capture of research projects, the implementation of permanent financial control or the capture of more public funds were some of the tasks described by Plasencia for this program.
The manager concluded by saying that work is going to be done in a complementary way, on the one hand, to structurally cover the workforce with the various processes that are underway and, on the other, to have this technical support on a temporary basis.
