Kiang Wu Nursing College Of Macau
Introduction
Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau (KWNC), founded in 1923, is a subsidiary institution of Kiang Wu Hospital Charitable Association (KWHCA). Evolving from the former Kiang Wu Nursing and Midwifery School, the College is the oldest nursing education institute in Macau. In 2015, the College received confidence ratings from the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) in an institutional quality audit (IQA). The College is striving to enhance the curriculum to be multi-disciplinary and advance towards top-tier training. It is also determined to timely accommodate social demand and medical development.
In the past century, with the efforts and strengths of numerous people, Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau has been developing stably. In 1999, the College was recognized by the government as a private higher education institute and it became the Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau. In 2002, the College started the first four-year degree of “Bachelor of Science in Nursing”. This had turned a new page in Macau’s nursing higher education. To ensure the quality of the programme and to be in line with international standards, the College requested regular reviews for this degree by experts from the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Thailand, and Hong Kong. The curriculum design, teaching, and learning quality of this degree are recognized by experts and the programme continues to improve.
To encourage Macau’s specialised nursing development, with the support of the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong, KWNC launched the “Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Nursing (PDAN) Programme” in 2008, nurturing nurses with relevant specialised skills. This increased the power of specialised nurses and promoted the clinical development of various kinds of specialised nursing services. With more clinical learning bases added in Macau, and them being accredited, the training is more satisfactory for the needs of the Macau medical system and residents. Following which in 2010, the “Master of Nursing Science (MNS) Programme” was established in collaboration with Sun Yat-sen University. This provided a foundation for the College's Master's degree programme, building up a qualified teaching team. The College then established its own "Master of Nursing Programme" in 2018 to enhance nurses’ academic research and problem-solving abilities. The College is the first tertiary education institute that was approved to establish a nursing Master’s degree in Macau history.
Graduation Ceremony 2005/2006
KWNC lays emphasis on humanistic care and multicultural education to cultivate qualified nursing talents who strive for competence and integrity. Encouraged and supported by the Board of Directors of the College, the “Benevolence Scholarship Foundation” was established in 2006 to achieve the College’s benevolent and caring notion through encouraging the aspiring youth to pursue nursing studies and devote to nursing career by virtue of scholarships and grants. The College is closely connected with the Mainland and international medical and academic institutes, providing a variety of foreign exchange and learning opportunities for teachers and students to broaden their horizons and learn about multiculturalism. There are clinical exchanges that include countries/regions such as Beijing, Sichuan, Taiwan, Singapore, United States, Portugal, and Belgium, etc.
To promote academic research development in nursing and health sciences, KWNC founded the periodical “Macau Journal of Nursing” in 2001. This was the first and only local nursing journal in Macau which was also included in the US CINAHL and Taiwan CEPS databases. The Journal aims to boost the academic research development in nursing and health sciences, enhancing the quality of nursing techniques and nursing education, and reviewing the nursing development in the new epoch. In 2004, the newsletter “The Echo of Health and Nursing” was launched to share information, propagate health care and nursing knowledge, improve actual operation, and enhance connection and team spirit between the College’s colleagues and students.
To implement the College’s approach of integrating teaching, research, and social service as well as to be in line with the key policies of the S.A.R. Government, KWNC began making preparations for the establishment of the Nursing & Health Education Research Centre in Academic Year 2006/2007, and it was in operation in September 2012. The “Benevolence Lights up my Later Life: A Tailored Meta-programme to Face with Ageing Population in Macau” was a key development project of the centre. Currently, it focuses on the promotion of dementia prevention, life and death education, and community nursing. The programme has been beneficial for society.
In recent years, KWNC has undertaken a number of research projects commissioned by the S.A.R. Government, such as: “Research on the Long-Term Care Needs of the Elderly in Macau”, “A Ten-Year Plan for the Nursing Manpower in Macau”, “The Study of the Visual Acuity of Primary Students in Macau”, “A Ten-Year Plan for the Community Nursing Manpower in Macau”, “Tackling the Ageing Society: An Analytic Study of Nursing Services and Manpower in Macau”, “Tackling the Ageing Society: A Continuous Study on the Strategies for the Development of Macau Nursing Manpower”, and “Research on Preparation for Elderly Life and Life-long Development of Macau Residents” etc.
In 1956, the then Chair of Kiang Wu Charitable Association (KWCA) Mr. Ho Tim and Mr. Ho Yin contributed funds for the construction of “Cheng-Kai Memorial Hall” as the campus building, which has remained since. With increased student numbers and demand for learning resources, the College added the Mong Ha Campus in 2013 to enhance facilities such as specialised nursing laboratories and spaces for researching, self-study, and other activities. With the support of the Macau S.A.R. Government, a new campus will be built next to the Islands Medical Complex, which will be in use in the fourth quarter of 2020.
For the College’s future, through the completion of the new campus in the Islands Medical Complex, there will be an enhancement in resources to train high-quality nursing and health science talents. This will provide greater development space for better quality and higher levels in nursing and health education, satisfying future medical care development and health care needs of Macau. At the same time, through training, research, and more, the College will provide support to Macau’s long-term nursing services.
Locations
- Macau
Av. de Venceslau de Morais No. 218A, Edf. Cio do Jornal Ou Mun, 13/F-16/F, , Macau