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Greenville Business Magazine

NGU, USC Upstate Reach Nursing Agreement

Feb 06, 2018 11:19AM ● By Kathleen Maris

North Greenville University’s (NGU) College of Science and Mathematics (COSAM) has trained high-quality biology students for decades. Medical school acceptance rates of the college’s biology graduates have been approximately 90 percent consistently over the past 10 years.

To build on that success, NGU announced at a press conference on Feb. 6 a new affiliation with the Mary Black School of Nursing at University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg. The partnership will help address supply and demand projections of the nursing workforce.

Now, North Greenville University biology majors interested in a nursing career will have the opportunity to earn two bachelor’s degrees in five years. The first three years will be spent at the NGU campus and the final two years will be spent at the Mary Black School of Nursing on either the main campus in Spartanburg or the USC Upstate Greenville Campus at the University Center in Greenville. Students will receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from NGU after their fourth year and a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from USC Upstate after the fifth year.  

According to the school’s articulation agreement, qualified NGU students who meet all admissions criteria as described in the Mary Black School of Nursing academic catalog and identified by NGU will be invited to apply in their junior year. NGU will then provide an approved list of students annually to be entered into the Mary Black School of Nursing prior to October 1 for an August start date and March 1 for a January start.

Identified students with completed applications who meet the standards of the dual degree program will be guaranteed acceptance. Standards include maintaining an overall 3.0 grade point average, having a 2.5 GPA in the required sciences, completing the program requirements for clinical hours, passing the pre-admission assessment test (ATI Test of Essential Academic Skills), and meeting the approval of the NGU COSAM dean.

The first group of NGU students will enter the nursing program at USC Upstate in Spring 2019.

“As the level of illness in the general population has increased over the last 20 years, as well as the number of seniors over 65, there is a need of more expertly qualified nurses to take care of them now and in the coming years,” said Dean of NGU’s College of Science and Mathematics Dr. Tom Allen.

Dr. Katharine M. Gibb, Dean of the Mary Black School of Nursing at USC Upstate, says, “Times have changed, and any school has to evolve with that change. The more complex patient care gets, the more educated and experienced our nurses need to be.”

“USC Upstate is pleased to enter into this agreement with North Greenville University. This collaboration gives these students the opportunity to gain the skills and credentials necessary to thrive in South Carolina’s modern healthcare economy,” said USC Upstate Chancellor Brendan B. Kelly.