President's Welcome

As President of IUON, I want to welcome you to the world of nursing. It is an exciting time for the nursing field in general, and IUON, in particular. As you may be aware, there is currently a shortage of 186,000 nurses in the U.S., and this shortage is expected to exceed 1.2 million nurses by 2014. The quality of health care continues to decline, as the shortage grows worse.

To combat this growing shortage, with the assistance of several Deans from U.S. nursing schools and in consultation with leaders in academic nursing, we have established the International University of Nursing. We are fully committed to providing you with the highest quality education – an education that will prepare you for licensure as a registered nurse.

In designing and developing the University, we strictly adhered to the accreditation guidelines published by the Caribbean Regional Council for Nursing, the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). IUON has received approval from the government of St. Kitts to establish a nursing school and confer an Associate in Applied Science degree in nursing (AAS) as well as the Bachelors Degree in Nursing (BSN). The government of St. Kitts has granted full accreditation to the associate degree program, and provisional accreditation to the bachelor's program. We will be seeking full accreditation within the next 2 years. In addition, IUON plans to obtain independent accreditation from U.S. boards of nursing and appropriate institutional accrediting bodies.

All of our affiliated colleges in the U.S. are accredited by the NLNAC/CCNE and state boards of nursing and have the required institutional accreditations. Our graduates will receive a degree from IUON and a separate degree from the U.S. affiliate. Graduates of the U.S. affiliate will be fully prepared and eligible to apply for the NCLEX-RN licensure examination.

Our faculty members are recruited primarily from the U.S. They must not only have the requisite credentials and experience to teach at IUON, but must also be completely dedicated to both teaching and our students. This relationship between students and faculty members are a key component of our educational program.

With over 25 years of experience in developing academic facilities, I have made it clear that our goal is to make IUON one of the most modern and technologically advanced nursing schools – not only in the Caribbean, but throughout the western hemisphere. All of our classrooms and laboratories are equipped with the most sophisticated audiovisual equipment, including Elmo projectors and presenters, LCD projectors, plasma screen projectors, projection microscopes, high-resolution monitors, and computers. We have two skills laboratories equipped with the latest computerized simulated models, including Sim-Man, as well as other cutting-edge technology.

You will find our library comparable to that of most U.S. nursing schools in terms of books, journals, and periodicals. The IUON library is both wireless and wired for direct access. In fact, most of the campus has both wireless and direct data ports for students to access the local area network (LAN). All the tables in the reading area have data and electrical ports for student laptops. Our learning resource center is equipped with 36 computers for student use. Each of the 3 breakout rooms contains audiovisual equipment for group study.

Both of our 150-seat multipurpose labs are fully equipped for instructional needs, and include state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment throughout the facility.

Our ultimate goal is to develop a university with multiple degree programs. We are proud to announce the opening of our new medical school in St. Kitts in 2008. This will add to the cultural and academic diversity of the student population, and will make the overall experience enriching and exciting. We will be constructing additional buildings on campus starting with a new state of the art anatomy and neuro-anatomy lab. In the future we will be expanding the library and learning resource center, constructing additional classrooms, developing research laboratories, and adding a student union.

I'm sure you will find the IUON educational experience exciting, stimulating, and rewarding. It will prepare you to participate in the rewarding field of nursing, and contribute to improving health care in the U.S., and throughout the world. Good luck!

Sincerely yours,

Warren Ross
President
International University of Nursing