Nurses change lives, but they don’t work alone. Effective and efficient leadership is crucial to the smooth running of healthcare. On this four-year degree, alongside gaining core nursing skills and experience to become a competent dual registered nurse, you’ll discover what it takes to be a clinical and professional leader within the profession.

Course Description
Important: This course is approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council and fully reflects the NMC (2018) Standards for Pre-registration Nursing Programmes and Standards of Proficiency for Nursing from September 2021 entry. Details on this page describe the course as studied by all intakes of student nurses from September 2021.

The NHS needs nurses, nurses work in teams - and those teams need effective leadership. We are the only UK university offering a pre-registration nursing degree with an integrated leadership component.

Our unique degrees, led by the School of Healthcare, draw on the experience and expertise of more than 40 years of health education at the University of Leicester, partnerships with regional NHS trusts, as well as the expertise of our School of Business.

The four leadership modules, which are an integrated component of the programme, will enable you to develop your own leadership knowledge and skills. As part of the leadership modules, you will develop a leadership portfolio that will be part of your long-term career map - underpinning your accelerated career trajectory. You will prepare for professional practice, focussing on the knowledge and skills required for lifelong learning and professional practice, including specific interview preparation, presentation skills and numeric skills.

While at Leicester, you will study and work alongside other healthcare students in our superb facilities, which include a state-of-the-art Clinical Skills Unit with high-tech simulated mannequins to enable you to practise procedures in a safe environment. You'll even have lectures in Leicester Medical School's anatomy dissection room.

However, practical real-world experience is a vital part of training. You will spend at least 50% of your time on nursing placements, working alongside experienced nurses and the multidisciplinary team. Through these clinical placements, you will develop skills that enable you to act compassionately and professionally in a wide variety of clinical situations.

As part of the Third Year Professional Development Elective Module, you’ll also have the unique opportunity to undertake a four-week elective placement abroad, with funding available through the Turing Scheme. This invaluable experience enhances your global healthcare understanding while reinforcing the leadership skills gained through the program.

Students on this course are eligible for a grant of at least £5,000 a year, which you do not need to pay back.

This course is part of the Higher Education Pathway for Armed Forces project, which recognises the qualifications, skills and experience of ex-armed forces personnel.

Two pathways
These are dual registration, undergraduate masters degrees. This means you can choose to study mental health and adult nursing or mental health and children’s nursing.

This degree lasts four years, at the end of which you will have the security of employment opportunities in the local NHS.

Student Learning Contract
As part of the offer for a place on this course all students are required to agree to abide by the conditions of a Student Learning Contract which you will be asked to sign during the induction week at the beginning of the course. This learning contract will apply to the entire duration of the course and the signed copy will be stored as a PDF on your University electronic record.