UNIR and the General Nursing Council Team Up to Provide Quality Continuing Education

23 / 06 / 2020

Both institutions have signed an agreement to provide service to provincial nursing schools, which will allow them to design courses based on the training needs of the sector’s professionals.

The International University of La Rioja (UNIR) and the Superior Institute of Health Training (ISFOS), an entity that pertains to the General Council of Nursing, have signed an agreement to provide quality continuing education to Spanish nurses.

“The objective is that our institute, ISFOS, continues growing with the backing of a national university”, explained Florentino Pérez Raya, the president of the General Council of Nursing.

“We are betting on a future relationship to bring quality university training to the entire nursing profession in a lifelong learning process, a profession that, academically speaking, is constantly changing, and requires continuous specialized training”, assured Octavio Corral, Dean of Health Sciences of UNIR.

Courses Designed Based on Necessity

The objective of the agreement is to provide service to provincial nursing colleges, designing courses based on training needs that arise in different areas of nursing, such as care, management, research, or health education. “With this alliance, we join forces to ensure that nurses have access to the best possible training and to cover any training needs that arise, so that we can continue to claim, proudly, that we have the best nurses in Europe and the world, professionals that uphold our health system and the quality of life of their patients, thanks to their care”, added Pérez Raya.

In addition, “through this agreement, we intend to be the benchmarks in online university education in the field of nursing and to be able to bring that quality training to all nurses, regardless of their geographical location and in the spirit of facilitating the reconciliation between professional life and university life,” Corral continued.

Betting on Quality

During the signing of the agreement, Pilar Fernández, Director of ISFOS and Vice President of the General Council, assured that it was a very important day for both the training center and the Collegiate Nursing Organization: “We are very excited about the project. Our goal is to respond to all the needs of the profession and with UNIR, a dynamic and innovative university, we will carry out continuous training with a different methodology adapted to the new times. At ISFOS, we have professionals from different disciplines, and we are committed to quality professional training.”

Online training makes it possible to open up the world of the university to anyone who wants it. “Over time it has become a necessity. It used to be an option, but now it’s one of the only options out there. And this agreement is a sign that in education, you can do things well and with quality, in terms of content, for teachers, and in the methodology that is applied to the studies”, said Gabriel García-Prieto, Director of Corporate Development of UNIR.

He also highlighted: “The signing of this educational collaboration agreement between the International University of La Rioja and the General Council of Nursing demonstrates a clear support of UNIR’s Faculty of Health for the nursing profession and a commitment to the future to bring quality university training to all nurses to keep their knowledge updated throughout life as the health sciences evolve”.

Models in University Training

As he emphasized, “We intend to be the benchmark in university education in the nursing area, thanks to the long experience of nursing healthcare professionals and the leadership of UNIR as a reference university in online training. This collaboration also facilitates access to quality university education for nurses living in very different geographical locations and also facilitates the reconciliation between professional and university life”.

The presence of UNIR in Latin American countries such as Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru “will allow us to take part of our training to these countries so that they can also benefit from some of the projects that we implement for Spanish nurses, as has happened with our first courses”, concluded Pérez Raya.