Teaching & Learning

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing programme is designed to let students acquire professional knowledge as well as practice, giving them a chance to engage in clinical practice for four years during their studies. For students to become qualifies healthcare professionals, we send our outstanding students for academic exchanges, clinical placements and studies abroad to equip them with international concepts, knowledge and best practices. Graduates will be familiar with the healthcare systems in Macao, and will be recognised as qualified nursing professionals by the Macao SAR government. Qualified graduates will gain the chance of direct admission into the Master of Science in Nursing at MPU.

The programme aims to equip learners with the essential knowledge and skills of nursing and foster graduates to be qualified care professionals, and providing safe and effective health care services to people. It also cultivates nursing talents with an international perspective, professional competencies and qualities. Graduates shall be mission-driven and serve the community and the healthcare system with knowledge, dedication and the art of nursing care.

Upon completion of the programme, students are expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes in terms of academic contents, disciplinary skills, and attributes.

Academic contents 學術內容

Disciplinary skills‐ able to 學科技能

Attributes 特質

Mapping of Graduate Attributes to Programme Intended Learning Outcomes & Learning Modules 
畢業生理想特質與課程預期學習成效及學科單元之關聯表

Through lectures, group discussions, collaborative projects and other learning opportunities, students will acquire the learning outcomes expected from individual learning modules. Students are trained to be active, independent learners. Clinical placement is an essential component in nursing training. Students are expected to acquire and integrate knowledge into real-life situations through “Learning by Doing’. The placement also provides students with the opportunities to meet potential employers and understand the work environment. The total number of weeks required is 42 (1680 teaching hours) which bears 42 credits. Upon completion of clinical placement, students will be able to enhance their practical experience and transferable skills.

The programme schedules an annual examination board which considers all student academic profiles and agrees classifications and progression routes. Generally, theorectical modules are assessed by a combination of assignments, laboratory practices, presentations, projects, tests and examinations. Clinical placement is assessed by clinical performance and clinical assignment. Explicit guidance on coursework requirement for each module is given, emphasising approaches to coursework of various types and how to avoid plagiarism, together with rules and procedures. Examinations are typically of a two-hour paper undertaken at the end of each semester. Examination papers will be reviewed by internal moderators and then by external examiners. All examination papers go through a moderation marking procedure. Samples of three examination answer sheets (high, medium and low grades) are sent to the external examiners for quality control. Re-sit exam will be given for qualifies students who fail their first attempt at the end of each semester. Re-sit marks are capped at 50%. Normally, students who fail again in the re-sit examination or those who fail to meet attendance requirement will be required to repeat the failed modules.

According to Article 3 of Academic Regulations Governing Bachelor's Degree Programmes of MPU,

1. An applicant shall be considered for admission to a bachelor’s degree programme of the University if s/he 
   a) holds a qualification not lower than Grade 12 or the equivalent, and
   b) fulfils other admission criteria prescribed by the programme of study concerned.
    
2. An applicant of age 23 or above, proven to possess relevant capabilities (especially in the entrance examination(s) of MPU), shall be considered for admission to a bachelor’s degree programme with a waiver on the requirement in item a) of above point.

Each class of students is assigned a year tutor who provides general academic and pastoral support throughout the four years of study. Year tutors are the first point of contact in matters stated above. Various communication channels are available for students to express their opinions and suggestions, such as via their respective year tutors, student representatives, programme coordinators and assistant programme coordinators, and dialogue meetings on different levels. The dialogue meetings serve as platforms for consultation and discussion between students and respective personnel ranging from the programme, the faculty, the academic support and administrative units, to the university management. Feedback is made by respective personnel to every issue raised by the students during the meeting with follow-up actions tracked. Student surveys are conducted in every learning module on a semesterly basis to collect students' opinions regarding the delivery of the modules. User satisfaction surveys are conducted annually on central student services. Feedback collected via these surveys will be followed up by the faculty or respective departments.

Students will receive an orientation about their four years of study at the beginning of the first year. Year tutors are appointed to individual students upon admission to provide academic and pastoral support throughout the period of study in the programme. Students may seek academic advices from their year tutors or programme coordinators regarding their learning path/plan and registration of learning modules. In individual learning modules, the instructors' office hours and contact information are made accessible to students for any questions regarding their study. Students' learning engagement and performance will be reviewed on a regular basis by year tutors and programme coordinators to identify learning needs and provide relevant support. Students' learning performance and progression will also be reviewed by the programme examination board to ensure their learning is adequately support and their progress is on track. In addition, counselling services, careers services and student support services are accessible to all students through the Student Affairs Office. A wide variety of extracurricular activities (e.g. seminars, workshops, exchange opportunities, field trips etc.) are available via the Student Affairs Office. Students may make full use of the variety of learning opportunities, both curricular and extracurricular, to develop their academic and holistic capabilities for their future careers or further studies.

Any students scoring less than 35% of the total mark in the final examination will be given an “F” grade for the module even if the overall grade is 50% or higher.

Macao Polytechnic University has in place a university-wide policy to ensure that all student needs are taken care of and a supportive and accessible learning environment is maintained. When cases of special needs are notified or identified, special arrangements are made on a case-by-case basis with the joint effort of the programme and various student support services of the University, such as the Registry, the Student Affairs Office, the Information Technology Department and the Campus Management and Development Department, etc. to provide the necessary support.

The programme has a close relationship with the hospital and health centres under the Health Bureau, private hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centres, and other educational or social welfare organisations to provide clinical placement to students. The number of weeks required is 42 (1,680 teaching hours) which bears 42 credits. Students are to be arranged with placements in clinical units in Macao, Chinese Mainland, CCISP and Portugal, while when confined by unexpected event such as epidemics, this kind of placements would take place in local health facilities in Macao.