Head of School: Dr Sally Boyle

The School of Nursing and Health Education primary focus is on the education and training of pre-registration students, post-registration healthcare practitioners and those studying healthcare related courses. All courses are underpinned by healthcare research provided by the teaching teams and the Institute for Health Research

Our undergraduate programmes are studied by students wishing to work within healthcare settings and/or gain professional registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Our undergraduate courses include those for nursing associates, adult nursing, mental health nursing, or children and young people’s nursing, and midwifery.

At postgraduate level we offer pre-registration courses in adult nursing and mental health nursing for those students who already have a degree and wish to study to become a nurse. We also provide courses for nurses and midwives to enhance their careers, such as, our advanced clinical practice and prescribing programmes. We offer a shortened two year postgraduate course in midwifery for registered adult nurses wishing to become dual qualified as a Registered Midwife. For doctors and dentists, we offer courses in medical education and dental education, to assist them to teach others, and in dental law and ethics.

We work in close partnership with our local Practice Learning Partners, who provide placement experiences for students. Our Practice Learning Partners are sited across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, and Cambridgeshire. They include hospitals, care homes, mental health providers, community providers and those within the private, independent and voluntary sector.

Research

The Institute for Health Research (IHR) at the University of Bedfordshire is a centre of excellence in research. Currently, staff and research students come from more than 15 countries to create a strong global research community with interests in public health, health inequalities, applied research in the organization and delivery of health and social care, health informatics, epidemiology, chronic and infectious diseases, primary care, biostatistics, mental health and health services research.

One of the major goals of the IHR research programme is to further understand the factors which determine health and health behaviour and those aspects of local contexts, health systems and political economies that influence the successful implementation of proven health interventions and technologies.

The IHR has strong collaborative links in the UK and also in Europe, Middle East, Asia and America. The IHR hosts an MSc in Public Health and also offers extensive postgraduate research training in its approx 50 doctoral students.

• The Institute for Health Research (IHR)