HISTORY
The Ateneo de Zamboanga University opened the College of Nursing on June 1976, in response to the need for a Catholic School of Nursing which has community-based program. The happy realization of the Ateneo Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program was the result of the initiative of Rev. Fr. Agustin M. Bello, S.J. He personally obtained from the Secretary of Education, the Hon. Juan Manuel, the green light to start the ball rolling. Rev. Fr. Asterio Katigbak, SJ former President of the Ateneo de Zamboanga, carried the ball dogged and relentlessly. Mrs. Agnes B. Toribio, the first Division Head, and Rev. Fr. Ernesto Carretero, SJ, the immediate past President of the Ateneo de Zamboanga, carried the ball beyond the goal line to score a touchdown.
In 1976, the two-year Pre-Nursing course was phased out to give way to the training proper of BSN students. By order of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (MECS), the regular five year course leading to BSN was reduced and compressed to four years. The MECS also approved the Adjusted Curriculum for Graduate Nurse who may wish to acquire a BSN degree.
The Ateneo de Zamboanga University College of Nursing entered into consortium with the Zamboanga Doctors’ Hospital and with the City Health Office for the Clinical practicum. Later, in 1978, the affiliation with the Zamboanga General Hospital started.
In the summer of 2004, the Special Program in Nursing was opened to cater the professionals (except Medical Doctors) who are preferably graduates of any Jesuit School.
The College of Nursing functions within the Philosophy of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University… “Man and woman for others”. The BSN program combines liberal arts with professional nursing and its related learning experiences.
OBJECTIVES
The College of Nursing is headed by the Dean. It is composed of four “levels”, each headed by a level chairperson, assisted by a level coordinator.
The college aims to form students into nurses who are compassionate, component, committed, confident, caring, conscientious, and a critical-thinking generalist.
The objectives of the College of Nursing are the following:
- Provide students with the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes for the promotion restoration of health, prevention of illness and alleviation of suffering.
- Develop in the students a deep awareness and understanding of the legal, social and moral responsibilities of the profession; and
- Develop critical and creative thinking, as well as research capabilities through the use of the nursing process.
PHILOSOPHY
The College of Nursing believes that the human being is created in the image and likeness of God. As such, the person is rational and free. Existing as an embodied spirit, the person is related to the world of objects, the human other and the Absolute. What the person is, the individual’s life experience and aspirations- these are all affected by the person’s continuous interactions with the various elements of experience such as the social and cultural practices, technological advancements or interactions with family and community. All these interactions influence the person’s general state of health.
