Description of the program
The program is in conformity with the EU Directive for regulated professions. During the three years of the study program, students receive 4600 hours of theoretical and practical training. Now that the Bologna reform has taken effect, the entire program consists of 5400 hours, which includes individual student work. The student workload includes lectures, seminars, clinical exercises, clinical practice, and individual student work. Clinical practice represents half of the program prescribed by the EU directive (2300 hours), and is conducted in the immediate clinical environment - by the bedside. During the practice, students are supervised both by clinical mentors at the site of the practice, and by university lecturers and university technical assistants, who are also the coordinators of clinical practice. The study program is divided into the following modules:
• Nursing Care Module,
• Basic Sciences Module, and
• Social Sciences Module.
During the course of the study, students earn a total of 180 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System), out of which 10 ECTS are awarded for the diploma thesis.
In the first and third years of professional higher education study program Nursing (first cycle), students can select some of
the subjects. In the first year of studies, students can select a subject in the Foreign Language Module, and in the third year they can select among the following subjects: Leadership in Nursing Care, Communication in Supervised Health and Nursing Teams II, Informatics in Nursing Care, Nursing and Prevention of Hospital-Acquired Infections, Evidence-Based Nursing Care, and Palliative Care.
Still waiting to be accredited by The Council for Higher Education of the Republic of Slovenia are the following subjects: Alternative Nutrition, Public Health Aspects of Nutrition, Managing Medicinal Products in Nursing, Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, Ethics and Religion in Postmodern Society: Patient's Personal Beliefs in the Nursing Care Process. Students will select a total of three subjects (9 ECTS) and write a diploma thesis (10 ECTS).
Important information about the study program:
Level of education: Higher education, professionally oriented
Bologna cycle: First cycle professional higher education study program
Title awarded and abbreviation: Registered nurse (RN)
Program recognition: The study program follows the branch directives of the European Union and is compliant with the Bologna reform. Graduates will be able to seek
employment in all EU member states without nostrification of the degree.
Degree and qualifications: As a graduate of the study program, you will be qualified to independently perform your job at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of health care
services, without having to go through a preparatory training period.
Workload and obligations: 4600 hours of study program (obligatory lecture attendance at least 30 %, obligatory seminar attendance 100 %, obligatory clinical exercises attendance and clinical practice attendance 100 %), exams, other tests, seminar papers, health
and education presentations, diploma thesis and defense of diploma thesis.
Study duration: 3 years (6 semesters)
Types of study: Full-time and part-time
Different methods are employed for assessing student workload. However, most data is obtained from the student questionnaire on pedagogical work. From the academic year 2013/14 onwards, the FHCJ has been implementing Student workload assessment for FHCJ courses where students assess the average time spent for different activities in a course. Other methods of monitoring student workload include talking to instructors/class tutors about the workload, student tutor meetings, suggestions proposed by Student Council representatives to the Senate and Senate committees on student workload, discussions on student workload at Senate sessions, particularly in view of admission to the next year of study and instructor discussions at department meetings.
Each academic year, surveys are conducted on the quality of the pedagogic processes according to selected variables.
FHCJ monitors the employment rate of its graduates every 6 months. The data is collected by telephone interviews with graduates. FHCJ tracks the unemployment figures for graduates at the Employment Service of Slovenia in order to collect unemployment rates for the Upper Carniola and Central Slovenia regions.
E – learning
In the academic year 2011/12, e-learning was introduced into the pedagogic process at FHCJ. E-learning is conducted through the Moodle learning platform (version 2.0), offering students greater flexibility in preparing seminars. In e-learning platform, students and instructors communicate through a forum, chatroom of Skype. Papers are written in Wiki, the option of writing a blog is also available. In the academic year 2013/14, student tutoring through e-learning also became available. As the number of students participating in e-learning increases, the need for offering training to instructors is also growing.
Admission
The requirements for admission to the next year of study are set down in the Rules of admission to the next year of study for the first cycle study program, which were accredited together with the study program. A student of the bachelor’s degree (first cycle) program Nursing Care can enroll into the next year of study if she/he met all the requirements specified in the curriculum and the FHCJ Rules of admission to the next year of study by the end of the academic year.
Transfer, recognition of ECTS
Students enrolled in a higher education professional study program are entitled to recognition of prior knowledge and skills, obtained before enrollment into the study program through different formal education activities and demonstrated with report cards or other certificates specifying the type and scope of learning activity completed.
According to the provisions of the Higher Education Act and the Criteria for credit assignment to study programs according to ECTS, students are given the option of transferring at least 10 ECTS credits from either the required or elective course units from one study program to the next, provided that the content of the course unit complies with the study program Nursing Care (first cycle degree program).
As an independent higher education institution, FHCJ students have the option of selecting one elective subject at any other university in Slovenia or the EU and applying for its recognition. A student must submit an application for recognition of credits to the Student Affairs Committee, which will review all submitted documentation in accordance with the FHCJ Regulations for recognition of prior learning, subsequently confirmed by the Senate. Students must submit all documentation for recognition of credits to the course instructor who evaluates the submitted proof of prior knowledge and skills and compares it with the curriculum of the FHCJ course for which the students applied to receive recognized credits.