Making New Connections: Multi-University Collaboration in the Nursing Education Exchange

A multi-university collaboration and distance accessible educational technology provide an opportunity to address two critical needs in doctoral education. Inadequate numbers of doctorally prepared nursing faculty limit the capacity of our nursing programs to produce doctorally prepared nurses.   Limited faculty capacity restricts the flexibility, breadth and depth of coursework for our doctoral students. The creation of the Nursing Education Exchange (NEXus) presents a creative and cost effective approach to provide research and clinical doctoral students greater academic opportunities, networking, expanded mentorship and ultimately maximize educational capacity .

NEXus began in 2006 as a partnership among 4 Western universities in collaboration with the Western Institute of Nursing and has expanded to include fourteen academic collaborators offering over 150 DNP and PhD distance courses (Komenich, Hayes, Magilvy, & McNeil, 2013). Universities collaborating in NEXus share the goal of increasing student access to high quality education and expanding capacity of nursing doctoral education to increase the number of doctorally prepared nurses as faculty and clinicians. The NEXus program is structured to provide seamless enrollment in partner institution courses with a common pricing structure providing cost effective advantages to participating institutions and students. Recently, the National Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence announced financial support of NEXus expansion.  

The institutions participating in NEXus benefit by reduction of nursing education costs through course sharing. Specialized courses offered by a faculty member at one collaborating institution may be taken by students at participating institutions, thus expanding the educational opportunities without increasing individual institution faculty costs and the opportunity to fill seats in small enrollment courses. Through participation in NEXus courses, students are provided the opportunity to interact with expert faculty, increase networking with faculty and other doctoral students across the country, and expand their mentorship opportunities.  Students enrolled in NEXus courses report remaining ‘on time’ in their program progression, would recommend a NEXus course and took courses unavailable at their home institution. Faculty collaboration and networking are also expanded through this association. NEXus is an effective solution to address research and clinical doctoral educational needs for DNP and PhD institutions and their students.