Nursing applications soar at KU

Driven by a fresh wave of interest due to the pandemic, medical nursing degrees have experienced a boom in applications at Kingston University this year.

The coronavirus situation around the world has prevented a lot of students from pursuing their degrees, but due to increasing demand, nursing studies have become more popular.

“This year, we have seen a big increase in nursing applications for a number of reasons,” said Dr Julia Gale, Head of Kingston University’s School of Nursing.

“Firstly, we have a larger pool of 18-year-olds from previous years, and this will be the case going forward, while nursing is a very stable career which is proving incredibly vital in these uncertain times.” 

A report in 2018 by independent think tank the King’s Fund showed a shortage of more than 100,000 workers across NHS. At that time the study said: “Based on current trends, we project that the gap between staff needed and the number available could reach almost 250,000 by 2030.

“If the emerging trend of staff leaving the workforce early continues and the pipeline of newly trained staff and international recruits does not rise sufficiently, this number could be more than 350,000 by 2030.”

Current interest in subjects such as nursing as a result of Covid-19 make help avert this.

At Kingston University, where almost every student nurse is employed at the end of their master’s degree, the future is positive as the pandemic has shown how important the field is.

Gale said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has played a massive part in this because the public has seen what an amazing job nurses do and how hard they work, so it has brought a highly respected profession to the fore.

“Seeing this on the news everyday has made people want to come into nursing to make a huge difference – which is fantastic.”