Nursing is unarguably one of the best medical courses in Nigeria. It is a healthcare profession that focuses on caring for individuals to promote health, prevent illnesses, and provide care for those who are ill or injured. It also helps to solve more health related issues aside from the few mentioned above.
There are two routes to become a registered Nurse in Nigeria. It can either be through college of nursing, or the university nursing program which is also known as nursing at a university. The college of nursing and university nursing program are quite different but they both have the same aim which is to train students to become registered nurses.
Over the years, there has been a debate concerning these two routes on which is better. While some argue that college of nursing is better, others oppose, saying nursing in university is better. During the process of these arguments, many students make use of false points that end up confusing aspiring nurses.
I know we are all after the best; that’s why we try to know which of the two routes is better. In fact, as a student aspiring to study nursing in Nigeria, picking the better route will really play a vital role in your journey. Now the real question here is, which one of them is better, the college of nursing or nursing in university?
In today’s article, I will be answering that question by comparing and contrasting these two routes using several points. And by the end of this article, you will know which one of them is better and also have no reason to be confused anymore. So without wasting much time, let’s proceed!
Which Is Better Between College of Nursing and Nursing At a University?
To know which is better between the two, we will be making use of different points as mentioned earlier. These points will help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of each of these routes, thereby helping us to know which one is better.
1 Duration
The duration to study nursing at university is different from that of the college of nursing. The goal of some nursing aspirants is to study nursing as soon as possible so that they can start practising their profession early. Now the question here is, which one of these 2 routes is shorter?
The duration to become a nurse through a College of Nursing is typically 4 years (2 years for a National Diploma and 2 years for a Higher National Diploma), followed by a 1-year compulsory internship before becoming a registered nurse.
While the duration to study nursing at a university depends on your mode of admission. If you are using UTME, you will spend 5 years, but if you are using Direct Entry, you will spend 4 years since you will be starting from 200 level, followed by a one-year compulsory internship programme.
From the information above, you can see that the duration to study nursing at university is more than that of the college of nursing if you use the UTME mode of admission and the same if you use the Direct Entry mode of admission.
So if you want to study nursing faster so that you can start practising your profession earlier, then a college of nursing should be your choice or a university with direct entry since they both have the same duration of 4 years. I hope you understood what I just explained. I’ll take yes as the answer.
2 Certificates And Qualifications
The qualifications you will get after graduating from a college of nursing are different from the qualifications you will get after graduating from a university where you studied nursing. So what exactly are these qualifications?
Well, after graduating from a college of nursing, you will be given 3 certifications, which are the RN certification, either midwifery (RM) or public health (RPHN) certification (depending on the one written in school), and the HND in nursing certificate.
While you will be awarded 4 certifications after graduating from studying nursing at a university. These certifications include the RN, RM, RPHN, and the BNSC (bachelor of nursing science) certificate.
Now from the information above, you will notice something different about these two routes. First of all, in the college of nursing, you can only get 3 certificates, and you are limited to having just one of the midwifery or public health certificates. But for nursing at university, you will have both and 2 more after graduating.
Secondly, college or nursing won’t give you a BNSC after graduating, but after studying nursing at a university, you will be given the BNSC certificate, which is a very important qualification in nursing.
So for this aspect of qualifications, we both can comfortably agree that nursing at university is better. This is because nursing at university will give you your 4 complete qualifications, but a college of nursing will just give you only 3, as explained above.
3 Admission
The admission style is simply the way universities offering nursing and colleges of nursing run their admission process. To better explain this, I will be dividing it into two sections. The first will talk about their mode of admission and also how difficult it is to gain admission.
- Mode Of Admission
The mode of admission into a college of nursing programme is through JAMB (UTME), in which you will need to take the UTME and also write their post-UTME exam before you can be eligible for admission.
For nursing at university, the mode of admission is also through JAMB. But for nursing at university, you can either choose to apply through UTME or Direct Entry, unlike the college of nursing, which is by UTME alone.
If you pick UTME, you will need to sit for UTME and also write their post-UTME exam (only if the university conducts post-UTME for their applicants) before you can be eligible for admission into 100 level. While if you pick DE, you might also be required to sit for their post-UTME (if the university conducts post-UTME exams and makes it compulsory for DE applicants) before you can be eligible for admission into 200 level.
So from this, you can see that the mode of admission for both universities offering nursing and colleges of nursing is both through JAMB. The only difference is that students are limited to only UTME for admission into colleges of nursing. So anyone who wants to study there must take the UTME exam.
Meanwhile, you can use both UTME and Direct Entry for admission into a university nursing programme. This way, students aren’t limited to UTME alone, which makes it better than the college of nursing.
- How difficult it is to gain admission
Gaining admission into a university to study nursing or a college of nursing is generally not easy. You have to put in much work and read day and night just to get a good grade that will be enough to get you admitted.
But even with the way admission into both is hard, one has to be harder than the other. So the question is, which one of them is harder? Well, the truth is that admission into a university to study nursing is considered much harder.
This is because the number of applicants a university gets per year is more than what a college of nursing gets. Universities only admit based on quota, and since the number of applicants that want to study nursing is high, they will only select the best, leaving hundreds of applicants not admitted, which makes admission hard.
Although, the college of nursing gets thousands of nursing applicants per year also but it just can’t be compared to what a university is getting. In addition to that, the cut off mark for nursing in university is always higher than that of the college of nursing which makes it harder.
So if you are looking for the one with reduced competition and cut-off marks to some extent, then college of nursing should be better for you.
4 Academics
In terms of academics, both college of nursing and nursing at university are good but there is a slight difference in the style. For college of nursing, they focus more on the practical aspect than the theoretical aspect. In fact, they tend to start their practical aspect earlier compared to university nursing.
This is because college of nursing training is more practice-based than academic theory. And because of this, students in colleges of nursing tend to get exposure to the nursing field earlier.
While for university nursing, they focus on both the theoretical and practical aspects. But the only thing is that they don’t start practical early like the college of nursing. However, they still end up getting exposure to the Nursing field but not as early as the college of nursing.
So for this aspect, if you are the kind of aspirant that will love to start the practical aspect of nursing early when you enter school, then the college of nursing should be better for you. But if you are the kind of aspirant that wants to know more about the theoretical aspect and still know the practical aspect, university nursing should be better for you.
5 School Fees
One important factor to consider when picking a place to study nursing is the school fees. This is because you have to pick the one with a school fee that you can comfortably pay. Generally, students will always want to go for the one which is cheaper.
But the question here is, between nursing at a university and a college of nursing, which one is cheaper? Well, the truth is that we can’t really conclude which is cheaper. This is because some colleges of nursing are cheaper than some universities, while the others are higher.
So it’s not something we can just conclude like that, as it all depends on the college of nursing or university. Generally, the school fees of private universities and colleges of nursing are most times higher than public universities and colleges of nursing.
But the thing here is that we still have some public universities and colleges of nursing that have higher school fees than the private ones. This is exactly the reason why I said we can’t just conclude.
So the best thing to do here is to research the school fees of the college of nursing or university you wish to study. If the school fee is something that you can comfortably afford, then it should be better for you.
6 Career Opportunities
University nursing graduates have better career opportunities than college of nursing graduates. Mind you, I never said a college of nursing graduate doesn’t have career opportunities; the only thing is that university nursing graduates get better.
The reason why this is so is because graduates of nursing in university get 4 certificates which includes the RN, RM, RPHN, and BNSC. While graduates of college of nursing get just 3 certificates which includes RN, either RM or RPHN, and HND in nursing.
And for this reason, a graduate of nursing in university is more preferable in most organisations. Mind you, I never said that they don’t employ college of nursing graduates. But if you put a graduate of college of nursing together with a graduate of university nursing, the graduate of university nursing will likely be chosen because of the degree.
Additionally, some organisations limit college of nursing graduates to some positions and don’t even pay them equal salary with graduates of university nursing. This is mostly common in private hospitals, NGOs and more.
Lastly, university nursing graduates are mostly preferred for international jobs, especially in countries like the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. Though they accept college of nursing graduates too, but not for all medical jobs compared to university nursing graduates.
So for this aspect of career opportunities, nursing at university is better since their graduates get more career opportunities and advantages compared to graduates from colleges of nursing because of their degree.
7 Facilities
Generally, universities have more facilities for nursing than colleges of nursing. This is because most universities offering nursing are attached to a teaching hospital with enough facilities, most times sponsored by the state or federal government.
The college of nursing also has facilities but not like universities. Their students don’t even get to access teaching hospitals like the way nursing students do in universities.
Although the federal government isn’t doing so well in the aspects of providing facilities for teaching hospitals, it’s still better than the facilities the college of nursing provides. So for this aspect of facilities, university nursing is better than college of nursing.
8 Recognition
In terms of recognition, nursing graduates from universities have more recognition than a graduate from a college of nursing. For example, a graduate of nursing from UNILORIN will be recognised more than a graduate of nursing from OYSCONME.
This is because people recognise universities more, just like how they are more recognised than polytechnics. So for this aspect of recognition, university nursing is better.
From the information above, I am sure that by now you already know which one is better for you. Well, before concluding this article, I would like to give you my final advice on this topic.
My Final Advice
My final advice to you is that both college of nursing and nursing in university are good. But if you have the opportunity to go to a university to study nursing, please don’t hesitate to go. From the information above, it’s so glaring that nursing at a university has so many advantages over a college of nursing, making it the better one.
However, if you don’t have the opportunity to go to a university to study nursing due to one reason or another, just attend a college of nursing instead, as it is also good. Hope you understood what I just said. I’ll take yes as an answer.
FAQs
How many qualifications does a graduate of a college of nursing get?
A graduate of college of nursing gets 3 certificates upon graduation which include RN, RM or RPHN and HND in nursing.
How many qualifications does a graduate of nursing at university get?
A graduate of nursing at university is entitled to 4 certifications after graduating. They include the RN, RM, RPHN and BNSC.
Can I become a nurse without going to a university or college of nursing?
No, you can’t. The only two routes in which you can become a registered nurse in Nigeria are through a university or college of nursing.
Between college of nursing and university nursing, which is cheaper?
We can’t really tell. While some colleges of nursing pay cheaper school fees than universities, others pay higher, so it all depends on the particular college of nursing or university.
Conclusion
So in conclusion, university nursing has so many advantages over college of nursing which makes it the better one. But that doesn’t mean colleges of nursing aren’t good. Do you still have questions on this topic? If yes, then kindly drop them in the comment section below and we will gladly provide a well detailed response. Thank you for reading this article.
