Overview of KWNC

Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau (KWNC), founded in 1923, is a subsidiary institution of Kiang Wu Charitable Association (KWHCA). Evolving from the former Kiang Wu Senior Nursing School, the College is the oldest nursing education institute in Macao. In 2015, the College received confidence ratings from the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) in an institutional quality audit (IQA). In addition, KWNC successfully completed Institutional Accreditation (IA) conducted by QAA in 2023. The College is striving to enhance the curriculum to be multi-disciplinary and advancing towards top tier training. It is also determined to timely accommodate social demand and medical development.

  

In the past century until now, with the efforts and strengths of numerous people, Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau has been developing stably. In 1999, the College was recognised by the Macao government as a private higher education institution and it became the Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau. In 2002, the College started the first four-year degree of ‘Bachelor of Science in Nursing’. This had turned a new page in Macao’s nursing higher education. To ensure the quality of the programme and to be in line with international standards, the College regularly invites international and prestigious quality assurance agencies and the Education Quality Evaluation Agency of the Ministry of Education, China to conduct programme reviews. The curriculum design, teaching and learning quality of programmes are recognised by experts and the programmes continue to improve. These are to ensure KWNC is on par with international and national standards.

To encourage Macao’s specialised nursing development, with the support of the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong, KWNC launched the ‘Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Nursing (PDAN) Programme’ in 2008, nurturing nurses with relevant specialised skills. This increased the power of specialised nurses and promoted clinical development of various kinds of specialised nursing services. With more clinical learning bases added in Macao, and them being accredited, the training is more satisfactory for the needs of the local medical system and residents. Following which in 2010, the ‘Master of Nursing Science (MNS) Programme’ was established in collaboration with Sun Yat-sen University. This provided a foundation for the College’s master’s degree programme, building up a qualified teaching team. The College then established its own ‘Master of Nursing Programme’ in 2018 to enhance nurses’ academic research and problem-solving abilities.

KWNC lays emphasis on humanistic care and multicultural education to cultivate qualified nursing talents who strive for competence and integrity. Encouraged and supported by the Board of Directors of the College, the ‘Benevolence Scholarship Foundation’ was established in 2006 to achieve the College’s benevolent and caring notion through encouraging the aspiring youth to pursue nursing studies and devote to nursing career by virtue of scholarships and grants. The College is closely connected with the Mainland and international medical and academic institutes, providing a variety of foreign exchange, and learning opportunities for teachers and students to broaden their horizon and learn about multiculturalism. There are exchanges that include countries / regions such as: Hong Kong, Beijing, Sichuan, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, United States, Portugal, etc.

 

To promote academic research development in nursing and health sciences, KWNC founded the periodical ‘Macau Journal of Nursing’ in 2001. This was the first and only local nursing journal in Macao which was also included in the US CINAHL and Taiwan CEPS databases. The Journal aims to boost the academic research development in nursing and health sciences, enhancing the quality of nursing techniques and nursing education, and reviewing the nursing development in the new epoch. In 2004, the newsletter ‘The Echo of Health and Nursing’ was launched to share information, propagate health care and nursing knowledge, improve actual operation, and enhance connection and team spirit between the College’s colleagues and students.

 

To implement the College’s approach of integrating teaching, research, and social service as well as to be in line with the key policies of the S.A.R. Government, KWNC established Nursing & Health Education Research Centre in 2012. The ‘Benevolence Lights up my Later Life: A Tailored Meta-programme to Face with Ageing Population in Macau’ was a key development project of the centre. Currently, it focuses on the promotion of dementia prevention, life and death education and community nursing. The programme has been beneficial for the society. In 2021, KWNC set up a training base in Hengqin Branch of Zhuhai People’s Hospital of Zhuhai People’s Hospital Medical Group in 2021. It aims to promote the cooperation in teaching and research between Guangdong and Macao, assist in building a healthy Bay Area and jointly improve overall health care quality of the nation and Macao.

 

In recent years, KWNC has undertaken a number of research projects commissioned by the Macao S.A.R. Government, such as: ‘Research on the Long-Term Care Needs of the Elderly in Macau’, ‘A Ten-Year Plan for the Nursing Manpower in Macau’, ‘The Study of the Visual Acuity of Primary Students in Macau’, ‘A Ten-Year Plan for the Community Nursing Manpower in Macau’, ‘Tackling the Ageing Society: An Analytic Study of Nursing Services and Manpower in Macau’, ‘Tackling the Ageing Society: A Continuous Study on the Strategies for the Development of Macau Nursing Manpower’, and ‘Research on Preparation for Elderly Life and Life-long Development of Macau Residents’ etc. The academic team is committed to conducting research to meet the needs of the society and explore the development of nursing education, with considerable research and academic capabilities in the domains of nursing education, senior care, hospice care and life and death education The research findings contribute to improving the quality of nursing services and serve as a reference for the SAR Government.

 

In 1956, the then Chair of Kiang Wu Charitable Association (KWCA) Mr. Ho Tim and Mr. Ho Yin contributed funds for the construction of ‘Cheng-Kai Memorial Hall’ as the campus building, which was remained in use until summer 2022. With increased student numbers and demand of learning resources, and with the support of the Macao S.A.R. Government,. KWNC relocated to the Islands District Medical Complex Campus in August 2022. In the new campus, there are an expanded library, fundamental and various specialty nursing laboratories, and the addition of Simulated Infectious Disease Ward, and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) Centre. With the Wynn Care Foundation sponsorship, the first Life Journey Experience Pavilion with nursing and Comprehensive Health professional demonstrations has been established. It is the transformation and display of the teaching and scientific research output of the College, and it is also an experiential learning venue for children, teenagers, adults, and seniors to have life education.

 

For the College’s future, by moving to the new campus in the Islands Medical Complex, there will be enhancement in resources to train high-quality nursing and health science talents. This will provide greater development space for better quality and higher level in nursing and health education, satisfying future medical care development and health care needs of Macao. At the same time, through training, research and more, the College will provide support to Macao’s long term nursing services.