Fonds Accession 1992-64 - School of Nursing fonds

In 1932 Mount Saint Vincent College and the Halifax Infirmary School of Nursing established an affiliation program, whereby the College taught credit and non-credit courses to the nursing students at the Halifax Infirmary. In 1946 the program was discontinued as both parties were unhappy with the results. Although the first affiliation attempt between Mount Saint Vincent College and the Halifax Infirmary had not worked out, both parties were still interested in working together. Therefore when Mount Saint Vincent College established its own nursing program in 1949, it did so in affiliation with the Halifax Infirmary. The College was responsible for providing the academic component of the degree program, while the Halifax Infirmary provided the nursing and clinical training. The affiliation program was four years in length and led to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree awarded by Mount Saint Vincent College. In 1965, Mount Saint Vincent College decided to make some changes to its nursing program and introduced the first integrated nursing program in Nova Scotia. The new program required highly qualified faculty and mandated a lower faculty/student ratio than the old affiliation program, but it allowed the College to have complete control over the content of the program. The new changes ultimately resulted in higher costs to the College and it quickly became evident that something needed to be done to help bring down the cost of the nursing program. In 1969 the Mount Saint Vincent University School of Nursing and the Dalhousie University School of Nursing, which had also introduced an integrated nursing program, decided to carry out their programs in closer conjunction. By joining the two programs it was felt that the two schools would still be able to maintain a strong nursing program but they would be able to reduce the cost of the programs by eliminating unnecessary duplication. In the early 1970s an agreement was signed between the two schools creating the Dalhousie - Mount Saint Vincent Universities School of Nursing. As part of the agreement it was decided that all of the nursing courses would be taught at Dalhousie University, while the students from Mount Saint Vincent would complete all other academic courses at Mount Saint Vincent University. In the agreement it was also decided that although all of the nursing courses would be taught at Dalhousie University, Mount Saint Vincent University would still be responsible for providing a portion of the nursing faculty. The joint Dalhousie.