Welcome to the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) College of Nursing!
The establishment of the College of Nursing has created new opportunities for aspiring
nurses in the region to pursue high-quality undergraduate nursing education through an
American-style curriculum, instruction, and clinical training. The Bachelor of Science
in Nursing program is designed to foster scientific inquiry, strengthen
critical-thinking skills, and prepare students to become caring, compassionate, and
competent generalist nurses and future nurse leaders. At the American University of
Kurdistan, our dedicated faculty and staff are committed to student success. Learners
engage in innovative instructional methods grounded in evidence-based knowledge,
supported by a rich learning environment, and immersed in rigorous clinical training.
These experiences prepare graduates to become highly sought-after practitioners across
various healthcare sectors. The educational journey toward becoming a registered nurse
can be challenging, requiring students to balance academic, clinical, and personal
responsibilities. However, the opportunity to join a dynamic, diverse, and highly
trusted profession, and the profound reward of making a difference in the lives of
others, makes the path worthwhile. If you are passionate about helping people and eager
to make a lasting impact on your community, then nursing is the right career for you,
and AUK is here to help you achieve that goal.
Jervy P. Bernardino, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN Dean, College of Nursing
According to the Duhok Directorate General of Health, the Governorate of Duhok faces a
critical shortage of nurses. Currently, there are only 11 nurses per 10,000 people, far
below the global standard of 29.2 nurses per 10,000. With only 2,368 nurses serving the
province, an additional 3,914 nurses are needed to reach international benchmarks, a gap
projected to widen by 2030. This shortage is not unique to Duhok; it reflects a broader
challenge across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. Despite the high demand for nurses,
social stigma continues to limit the growth of the profession.
To address this pressing need and advance nursing education across the Kurdistan Region
and beyond, the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) established the College of
Nursing (CoN) and launched its Baccalaureate Nursing Program.
Since its founding in 2014, AUK has been committed to shaping future leaders through
high-quality education, innovative research, and career-ready academic programs. As a
leading academic and research institution, AUK upholds the highest standards of
intellectual integrity and scholarship. The University values academic freedom, equal
opportunity, and unity in diversity, principles reflected in the excellence of its
faculty and staff. In alignment with its mission to reform education and healthcare in
the region, AUK’s Board of Trustees approved the establishment of the College of
Nursing in accordance with international quality assurance standards. Alongside the
College of Medicine, AUK is planning to build a teaching hospital and additional
facilities to support nursing education, faculty development, and student training.
The College of Nursing prepares students for meaningful careers and lifelong professional
development in the field of nursing. The profession is rooted in the prevention of
illness, compassionate care for those who are acutely ill, and support for individuals
with long-term health needs. Guided by its mission to serve the local and regional
community, the College of Nursing aims to meet the healthcare workforce needs of the
Kurdistan Region and beyond by graduating highly skilled and practice-ready nursing
professionals. Training at AUK follows the highest standards of interdisciplinary
nursing education modeled after leading U.S. universities.
MISSION
The College of Nursing's mission is consistent with the American University of Kurdistan
(AUK) mission, which is to support values-based liberal arts and professional education
for all students in achieving their educational goals in an academic and scholarly
excellence environment. The AUK College of Nursing is to prepare caring, innovative,
professional nurses who are leaders in addressing the region's healthcare needs and
improving local, national, and global communities’ health and wellness.
VISION
The vision of the College of Nursing is committed to providing quality nursing education
and scholarly training so that students become compassionate, highly academically
qualified nurses, educators, leaders, and scholars of a diverse, sustainable, global
society.
CORE VALUES
Core Values are the beliefs that describe, define, and direct the work of the College of
Nursing through the University and its operations. Inspired by the Core Values of the
University, the College of Nursing has discovered its Core Values that provide a
fundamental set of guiding principles to promote excellence in nursing education,
research, practice, and service.
- Caring: Caring encompasses the interest, concern, compassion, and mentoring
we demonstrate for our students, our patients, our communities, and each other.
Caring is central to nursing practice. - Diversity: Diversity is fostering the potential of every individual through
sensitivity, social justice, and cultural competence. - Excellence: Excellence is supporting the highest quality in an environment of
collaboration, shared knowledge, innovation, scholarship, leadership, and
competence. - Integrity: Integrity is acting with honesty, fairness, and sincerity in all
endeavors in an ethical and professional manner. - Nursing Innovation: Nursing innovation is the conversion of knowledge and
ideas into meaningful work through creativity, entrepreneurship, and pushing beyond
the boundaries of the current situation. - Scholarship: Scholarship is to discover and disseminate new knowledge and
using nursing scholarship to practice evidence-based care. As a practice profession
and an academic discipline, nursing is an art and science. - Service: Service is to commit to the people of the Kurdistan region and
beyond by providing high-quality nursing programs to promote the health of all
people. We provide nursing expertise and service at the University, Kurdistan
Region, Iraq, and international levels. - Respect: Respect is acknowledging the value of ourselves and others by
treating them with dignity, responsiveness, courtesy, and consideration.
PROGRAM EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES (PEOS)
The BSN program’s educational objectives are to prepare baccalaureate generalist
nurses. Therefore, the AUK College of Nursing expects the BSN graduates within a few
years of graduation to attain the following:
- Demonstrate competence in a professional role within a dynamic, multicultural,
global society to provide safe, quality, holistic, evidence-based, patient-centered
care to diverse patient populations across the lifespan as baccalaureate generalist
nurses. - Assimilate professional, legal, and ethical guidelines in practice as a professional
nurse with accountability and independence in a variety of settings. - Demonstrate commitment to lifelong learning for personal and professional growth for
further education and/or specialization within their chosen career path.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES (SLOS)
At the completion of the program, graduates are expected to demonstrate:
- Patient-Centered Care. Demonstrate competent and responsible practice by
synthesizing and integrating knowledge from the arts, humanities, sciences, and
nursing education to provide patient-centered, holistic, compassionate, and
respectful care to patient populations, families, and communities that are age and
culturally appropriate - Evidence-Based Practice (EBP). Utilize scholarship to evaluate and integrate
current evidence with clinical expertise and consider clients’ preferences,
experiences, and values to make practice decisions for quality outcomes. - Safety. Apply clinical reasoning and critical thinking to promote a culture
of safety and prevent the risk of harm to populations, families, colleagues, and the
community. - Communication. Demonstrate effective communication with patients, families,
and colleagues by fostering mutual respect and shared decision-making to enhance
knowledge, experience, and health outcome. - Systems-Based Practice. Recognize the changing healthcare system and
demonstrate the ability to access resources in a safe, effective, and financially
responsible manner to provide value-based care. - Leadership. Demonstrate leadership through accountability, influence, and
collaboration with others in a way that will facilitate the establishment and
achievement of shared goals. - Quality Improvement. Recognize a commitment to quality improvement by
understanding the value of data, design, implementation, and evaluation strategies
to improve the healthcare system’s quality and safety. - Intra- and Interprofessional Collaboration. Demonstrate active participation
and collaboration within nursing and inter-professional teams to achieve quality
patient outcomes. - Professionalism. Demonstrate professionalism through consistent application
and self-reflection of ethical, legal, altruistic, humanistic, regulatory
principles, and self-care. - Information Technology. Demonstrate proficiency in using technology and
information systems to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support
decision-making for safe practice.
PHILOSOPHIC APPROACH
The philosophic approach to the BSN curriculum of the College of Nursing is the Quality
and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) competencies and the National League for Nursing
(NLN) Education Competencies Model. The QSEN competencies serve as a foundation for
enhancing nursing knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) in the context of a quality
and safety-driven healthcare environment. These six core competencies: patient-centered
care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety,
and informatics, reflect the essential capabilities nurses must possess to meet the
evolving demands of modern healthcare systems. When mastered within the educational
setting, students will be able to identify the KSAs outlined under each competency,
integrate these competencies into their daily practice after graduation, and be better
prepared to provide safe, high-quality care.
The NLN Education Competencies Model incorporates core values and integrating concepts,
culminating in a graduate who demonstrates four essential outcomes embedded in nursing
practice: human flourishing, nursing judgment, professional identity, and a spirit of
inquiry. Both the QSEN competencies and the NLN Education Competencies Model are
progressively integrated throughout the BSN curriculum, advancing from simple to complex
concepts.
The goal of the BSN program is to prepare baccalaureate-prepared nurses to practice as
generalist nurses in a variety of healthcare settings. Graduates of the AUK College of
Nursing are competent nurse generalists who serve as providers of care, designers,
managers, and coordinators of care, and active members of the nursing profession.
Generalist nursing practice encompasses both direct and indirect care for individuals,
families, groups, communities, and populations across the lifespan and throughout the
continuum of healthcare environments.
Baccalaureate-prepared nurses from the AUK College of Nursing provide patient-centered
care that recognizes, respects, and responds to patients’ differences, values,
preferences, and expressed needs. As healthcare providers, they function both
autonomously and collaboratively within interdisciplinary teams. These graduates
understand the complexity of care delivery and the increased utilization of healthcare
resources required in today’s healthcare systems. They are equipped with the
knowledge and authority to delegate tasks to other healthcare personnel, as well as to
supervise and evaluate their performance.
As knowledge workers, AUK nursing graduates demonstrate strong critical reasoning,
clinical judgment, communication, and assessment skills. They uphold a professional
image grounded in a clearly defined professional identity, accountability, and a strong
ethical framework. They serve as advocates for both patients and the nursing profession,
actively engaging in policy processes that influence healthcare delivery and systems of
care. A commitment to lifelong learning is a hallmark of the AUK baccalaureate nurse,
ensuring continuous self-improvement and professional growth.
Core Values are the beliefs that describe, define, and direct the work of the College of
Nursing through the University and its operations. Inspired by the Core Values of the
University, the College of Nursing has discovered its Core Values that provide a
fundamental set of guiding principles to promote excellence in nursing education,
research, practice, and service.
Integrating Concepts
- Context and Environment
- Knowledge and Science
- Personal and Professional Development
- Quality and Safety
- Relationship-centered care
- Teamwork
Outcomes
- Human Flourishing
- Nursing Judgement
- Professional Identity
- Spirit of Inquiry
AUK College of Nursing BSN End-of-Program Student Learning Outcomes Core Concepts based
on the Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) Competencies:
- Patient-centered care
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Evidence-based practice
- Quality Improvement
- Informatics
- Safety
