This founding ceremony was extraordinary: OTH Regensburg has managed to get stakeholders from the healthcare sector, the city, the district and the government of the Upper Palatinate to pull together. The University Training Network for Nursing is the logical consequence of the Nursing Studies Strengthening Act. Since this winter semester, the law requires that all nursing students can only study nursing with a training contract with a practical training provider. To this end, OTH Regensburg has already established a network with organisations such as BRK, Caritas, the clinics in the region and other care facilities in recent years.
Prof. Dr Dorothea Thieme, Professor of Nursing Science and Practice Officer for the primary qualifying Bachelor's degree course in Nursing, explained in her speech that the network strengthens cooperation within higher education nursing training and enables successful theory-practice transfer. ‘The fact that this appears to be successful is shown by the sharp increase of around 50 per cent in our first-semester nursing students this year, which will have a very positive impact on the care situation in the region in the future,’ said Prof. Thieme.
In his welcoming address, Prof. Dr. Ralph Schneider, President of OTH Regensburg, emphasised the importance that OTH Regensburg attaches to the academisation of healthcare professions against the backdrop of social and demographic changes. ‘In recent years, the OTH has established itself as the leading location in Bavaria for health-related degree programmes and offers the broadest range of health degree programmes at both Bachelor's and Master's level in Bavaria: From nursing, nursing management to physiotherapy, speech therapy and midwifery,’ says OTH President Schneider. But that's not all: the doctoral centre ‘Social and Health Science Design of Transformation Processes’, which was approved in July 2024 and was conceived by OTH Regensburg together with Munich University of Applied Sciences and Nuremberg Institute of Technology and is based at OTH Regensburg, strengthens the research landscape and promotes young academics.
OTH Regensburg has been offering a dual Bachelor's degree programme since the winter semester 2011/2012, which was initiated through a cooperation with medbo, the medical facilities of the Upper Palatinate district. Since 2020, OTH Regensburg has been offering the undergraduate nursing degree programme, which bridges the gap between theory and practice as an alternative to traditional nursing training.
Mayor Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer and District Administrator Tanja Schweiger emphasised the importance of the new network for ensuring nursing care in the city and district. ‘With the university training network, the OTH and the participating medical institutions are setting a milestone against the nursing shortage and for healthcare in our region. Many thanks to all those who have contributed to the realisation of this special cooperation and are bringing it to life,’ said Regensburg's Lord Mayor Maltz-Schwarzfischer.
The Bavarian State Minister for Health, Care and Prevention, Judith Gerlach, sent her greetings via video message. She was pleased that all partners are joining forces in the network to make the nursing profession more attractive for young people and addressed the major future topic of ‘transferring medical activities to carers’. Prof. Dr Christa Mohr, head of the nursing degree programme, addressed this as the closing speaker.
The second part of the Act to Strengthen Nursing Studies, which will be implemented in the winter semester 2025/2026, includes a reorientation and expansion of the degree programme to include the medical skills of diabetic metabolism, chronic wounds and dementia. To this end, a second state examination will be introduced, which will be taken by doctors. The implementation of these new tasks is a major challenge, which is why it is essential to work together with all stakeholders.
Following the ceremony, the guests engaged in numerous discussions and exchanged ideas on implementation.
