Work

What makes a good nursing education: Meeting the needs of students and society in a free-market education system – cluster analysis of United Kingdom universities

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: AIM: Examine quality of education through classification of universities providing undergraduate pre-registration nursing courses in the United Kingdom using data from university league tables. BACKGROUND: Educational quality for nursing courses can be defined in many ways. University league tables are often used, but it can be difficult to interpret these because of the diversity of measures. These include educational input and output measures, but are not patient focussed. DESIGN: Cluster analysis of league table data. METHODS: Data were from the Complete University and Guardian University League Tables. Cluster analysis was undertaken using euclidean distance and average linkage. Data were scaled by turning each value into a percentage of the maximum possible score. RESULTS: = -0.014). There was no clear pattern and few universities excelled in all areas. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional methods of ranking universities does not fit nursing well, where employment is higher and research quality lower than other subjects. There was no clear pattern in university results. Countries considering a free-market approach to nurse education should consider how they will meet the needs of students and health and social care services, while promoting research. The quality of nursing education should include broader measures of societal value and address the theory-practice gap.

Source: Nurse Education in Practice

DOI: 10.1016/j.nepr.2025.104344

Authors: Edward Purssell, Rohit Sagoo

Institutions: Anglia Ruskin University, University of Bedfordshire

Language: English

Topic: Higher Education Governance and Development

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,970