Middlesex University
Who are we?
Middlesex University is a Higher Education Institution (HEI) located in Hendon, North West London, England within the historic county boundaries of Middlesex. It was formally organised as a teaching institution in 1973 gaining University status in 1992. Middlesex University currently employs more than 1,700 staff, including many notable leaders in their academic field, as well as active practitioners and committed researchers. The student population is approximately 25,000. The school fo Health and Education is one of 6 schools within the universities. It hosts two research centres and one practice centre with a focus on nursing:
-Research Centre for Transcultural Studies in Health which is headed by Professor Irena Papadopoulos. The Centre has collaborated with a number of community groups, voluntary organisations and statutory health providers to conduct research on the broad health and social needs of immigrant groups. The Centre has received funding from European, national and local sources. These include the EU Life Long Learning Programme, the EU Erasmus/Socrates programme, the Department of Health, the National Institute for Health Research, the North Central London Workforce Development Confederation, the National Lottery, The Welsh Assembly Government, Macmillan Cancer Relief fund and various London Boroughs.
-The Centre for Critical Research in Nursing and Midwifery (CCRNM) draws together researchers in nursing and midwifery within the School of Health and Education.
– Centre fpr Practice Learning which focuses on clinical learning environments, supporting student learning, mentorship and pedagogical experiences of nurse programmes.
Why we are participating in the project
The project is important for increasing the number of cross-border placements in nursing & healthcare available and improving procedures for organising and managing student placements.
Our role in the project
Within the team we have a wealth of experience of managing placements for Erasmus students and in organising Erasmus exchanges and on a strategic level managing contracts. Our role in this project is to support and lead the direction of the project but overall to be lead partner in the second output (IO2) – the authoring of the audit tool which follows the initial output (IO1) collating and devising international benchmarks of a quality clinical learning environment.
Middlesex’s The Department of Adult, Child and Midwifery currently recruits and prepares over 400 nurses and midwives via a range of undergraduate and post-graduate courses and working in close partnership with National Health service (NHS) providers in North London. The largest programme is the BSc (hons) Nursing Adult pre-registration programme. Partnering with a variety of schools, education settings, charitable, private and public sector organisations, the school has a history of pioneering excellence that is recognised worldwide. Our Centre for Practice Learning unit has lead research and practice into Placement Learning and Quality Assurance process across London. Having such a central role in supporting pan- London initiatives related to quality assurance of placements and practice learning we have contributed to the development of a pan London audit tool as well as a span-London student assessment tool that is used by a [partnership of 9 London universities.
We have also been involved in a number of other British Council funded Erasmus programmes and so have experience of protocols and liaising with partners form a variety of environments and cultural situations outside of London and the UK. Alongside our quality assurance experience and our experience with nurse exchange (BSc European nursing and Erasmus traineeship exchanges) we will use our skills for development of the audit tool IO2) and assist with all other aspects of the quality assurance and benchmarking development project.
Our Team
Sheila Cunningham
Sheila coordinates the BSc European Nursing programme (long exchange) within Middlesex University as well as the shorter traineeship exchanges for nursing students. She also teaches on the nursing programmes, is a lead for developments in learning and teaching and as a HEA Principal teaching fellow leads pedagogical innovations across several aspects of the nursing and midwifery curricula.
Kathy Wilson
In the past three years, Kathy has worked closely with Health Education England, London on a number of projects related to mentorship, placement and practice assessment and currently is chair the pan London Practice Learning Group which has representatives from 10 London universities.
Tina Moore
Tina lectures in nursing at Middlesex university. Her clinical background includes critical care nursing. She has extensive experience in running a range of programmes that have flexible pathways at both undergraduate and post graduate levels. She also supports incoming Erasmus nursing students engaging with cultural and professional adaptation and experiential learning from placements experiences.
Nora Cooper
Nora is part of the Practice Based Learning Unit at Middlesex University. Her main teaching responsibilities are related to preparing staff who teach and assess in the clinical area. She is also involved in teaching on the nursing programme. For the last eight years she has been part of the educational audit team who undertake audits in the clinical areas.
