SIBU: I-Systems College Kuching believes the institution will be able to produce world class nurses with the engagement of foreign experts in the field to train and guide its students.
In exploring international collaborative partnership, the college recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Faculty of Health and Social Care, London South Bank University, UK.
The MOU was signed between the UK University’s executive dean Prof Judith Ellis MBE and I-Systems Group Colleges chief executive officer Dato John Tiong, witnessed by Assistant Public Health Minister Dr Jerip Susil.
With the MOU, the two institutions have agreed to cooperate in exploring the models for various healthcare related education developments, which may also include looking at the possibilities and opportunities for academic exchange and sharing of expertise on other areas.
“With this kind of arrangement, the I-Systems College should be able to produce very high quality nurses who will meet the Malaysian Nursing Board’s standards and requirements, and be recognised internationally,” the college said in a press statement released here yesterday.
Accompanying Prof Judith for the MOU signing ceremony recently was Professor Mary Lovegrove OBE, the International Leader for the Faculty of Health and Social Care at London South Bank University and both have vast experience and expertise in the nursing and healthcare related fields.
Prof Judith, who has held her present position since February 2010, is one of the six Registrant Members of the UK Nursing and Midwifery Regulator, the Nursing and Midwifery Council who regulate 670,000 nurses and midwives.
She commenced her career in the English National Health Services in 1978, training as a general nurse at St Thomas’s Hospital London and then moving on to train as a paediatric nurse in Manchester.
Prof Judith has held a number of senior posts in education and the NHS including most recently for eight years as Director of Nursing and Workforce Department at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.
Prior to that, she was a Nursing officer at the Department of Health, England with lead responsibility for ‘Quality’ and the ‘Getting the Basics Right’ agenda.
On top of that, Prof Judith has a high National profile and became a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1998 for services to Paediatric and Clinical Practice Benchmarking activity.
In Short, her doctoral studies were focused around quality improvement aiming for excellent patient-focused care.
Prof Mary, on the other hand, is a diagnostic radiographer by profession and holds a personal chair in education and development for allied health professions.
She is a very experienced academician and was head of allied health sciences at London South Bank University from 1995 to 2011.
Besides, she holds a number of national roles, including education representative on the Department of Health AHP Professional Advisory Board, Senior Policy Officer of the Council
of Deans of Health, and member of the design group for the new Health Education Outcomes Framework.
She is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the British School of Osteopathy and a board member for the College of Podiatry, and for her contributions and services to Allied Health , she was awarded the Order of the British Empire(OBE) in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday honours 2012.
Now with their involvement in improving the quality and standard in this specific field of study, I-Systems College Kuching will be able to produce world class nurses in the future.
The Institution, as one of a few handful private colleges in East Malaysia providing professional nursing programme, wants to make sure that their graduates are all of the first class, so that they can easily get jobs after their graduation.
Even now, there has been no problem for graduate nurses to get jobs, including in private and government hospitals, because since its first day of inception the college has always emphasises quality not quantity.
I-Systems Group of colleges offer Nursing, Medical Assistant, Medical Imaging, Hotel Management and other allied health programmes. The group has campuses in Miri , Klang (Selangor ), Johor Bahru, Bukit Mertajam ( Penang ), and Kota Kinabalu ( Sabah ).