The College of Nursing prepares students for employment and professional development in the field of nursing. Nursing is a profession which believes in the prevention of illness, caring for those who are acutely ill, and helping people with long-term rehabilitative problems to live in the healthiest way possible. Nursing care is about providing quality patient care in public and private health entities. Inspired by its mission of serving the local and regional community, the College of Nursing is to cater for the needs of the health service in the Kurdistan region and beyond.

Nursing is both a science and an art. It has its foundation in biophysical and behavioral humanistic sciences, as well as in specific nursing practice skills and techniques. The aim is to graduate highly skilled nursing professionals to provide the best possible outcomes for our patients. The training of professional nurses in this College will be modelled according to highest standards of interdisciplinary nursing requirements followed in U.S. universities.

The mission of the College of Nursing is consistent with the mission and vision of American University of Kurdistan (AUK), which is to support a values-based liberal arts and professional education to all students in achieving their educational goals in an environment of academic and scholarly excellence. The AUK College of Nursing is to prepare caring, innovative, professional nurses who are leaders in addressing the health care needs in the region and beyond that improve the health and wellness of local, national and global communities.

The faculty of the College of Nursing, as well as the University, prepare students for lifelong learning by providing an engaging and supportive teaching and learning environment for students of diverse origins, experiences, needs, abilities, and goals.

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.

The College of Nursing is dedicated to serving our community through improving economic achievement, advancing civic engagement, enhancing personal well-being, promoting critical thinking, and enriching aesthetic and cultural experiences. The training of professional nurses in the College of Nursing will be modelled according to highest standards of interdisciplinary academic nursing requirements followed in U.S. universities.

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 provides 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 with 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 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 aim to provide nursing expertise and service within the University, Kurdistan region, Iraq, and internationally.
  • RESPECT:
    Respect is acknowledging the value of ourselves and others by treating them with dignity, responsiveness, courtesy, and consideration.
The AUK College of Nursing expects the BSN graduates within a few years of graduation to attain the following:

  • Demonstrate competent and responsible practice by synthesizing and integrating knowledge from nursing and liberal education to provide patient-centered, holistic, compassionate, and respectful care of patient populations, families, and communities that age and culturally appropriate (Patient-centered Care).
  • Utilize scholarship to evaluate and integrate current evidence with clinical expertise and consideration of clients’ preferences, experience, and values to make practice decisions for quality outcomes (Evidence-based Practice).
  • Apply clinical reasoning and critical thinking to promote a culture of safety and prevent risk of harm to populations, families, colleagues, and the community (Safety).
  • Demonstrate effective communication with patients, families, and colleagues by fostering mutual respect and shared decision making to enhance knowledge, experience, and health outcome (Communication; Teamwork and Collaboration).
  • 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 (Systems-based Practice).
  • Demonstrate leadership through accountability, influence, and collaboration with others in a way that will facilitate the establishment and achievement of shared goals (Leadership).
  • Recognize a commitment to quality improvement by understanding the value of data, design, implementation, and evaluation strategies to improve the quality and safety of healthcare system (Quality Improvement).
  • Demonstrate active participation and collaboration within nursing and inter-professional teams to achieve quality patient outcomes (Teamwork and Collaboration).
  • Demonstrate professionalism through consistent application and self-reflection of ethical, legal, altruistic, humanistic, regulatory principles, and self-care (Professionalism).
  • Demonstrate proficiency in the use of technology and information systems to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and to support decision making for safe practice (Information and Technology).
  • Assume responsibility for life-long learning for professional development (Role responsibility of BSN Generalist).

Major Degree Specializations