In Sichuan Mianyang Shenghong School of Technology (referred to as “Mianyang Shenghong School”), students who have studied nursing for three years were surprised to be informed that their major had changed to “Maternal and Infant Care”. Students who chose the nursing major have found that their nursing learning experience is not recognized, making them unable to register for the nursing professional qualification examination in 2024.
According to information on the school’s official website, Mianyang Shenghong School was founded in 1993 and is a full-time, non-profit secondary vocational school. In 2010, Mianyang Shenghong School and Sichuan Nanchong Health School began joint operations. Sichuan Nanchong Health School, founded in 1951, is a public health-oriented full-time secondary vocational school.
On November 28th, a report revealed that Chen Hong (pseudonym) from Sichuan reflected that after studying nursing for three years at Mianyang Shenghong School, their major had been changed to “Maternal and Infant Care”, preventing them from registering for the 2024 nursing professional qualification examination.
Chen Hong stated that when they enrolled in August 2021, the major listed on the admission letter was “Nursing (Upgrading Class)”, but after three years, the major on their graduation certificate was “Maternal and Infant Care”.
“I studied nursing for three years, and now when I want to apply for a nurse qualification certificate, I was told that our major is Maternal and Infant Care.”
Chen Hong mentioned that some students still haven’t received their graduation certificates. “The school has been delaying the issuance of the certificates, and only when we received them did we realize there was a problem.”
On the afternoon of November 28, staff from the Education and Sports Bureau of Mianyang City stated that the school does not offer a nursing major, and vocational schools cannot apply for medical-related programs. In response to the issues raised by the students, the Education Bureau has acknowledged the matter and is dealing with it. However, calls made to several public phone numbers of Mianyang Shenghong School went unanswered.
Chen Hong mentioned that when they enrolled in 2021, the school was still named “Sichuan Nanchong Health School Mianyang Branch”, and it was only in the second year that it was renamed “Mianyang Shenghong School of Technology”.
Since enrolling in 2021, Chen Hong stressed that the school has consistently taught under the guise of a nursing major for three years. The curriculum included internal medicine nursing, surgical nursing, obstetrics and gynecology nursing, pediatric nursing, physiology, pathology, etc. “When we did our hospital internships, it was all under the nursing major name.”
Chen Hong also shared a post from a recruitment teacher’s social network. On June 28, 2024, the teacher wrote, “Introduction to the six majors offered by our school: Nursing, Pharmacy, Traditional Chinese Medicine Rehabilitation, Dentistry, Clinical Medicine, Medical Aesthetics.”
Currently, the official website of Mianyang Shenghong School only displays majors like Maternal and Infant Care, Intelligent Health, Emergency Rescue, Computer Graphic Design, Community Public Affairs Management, Elderly Services Management, and Health and Leisure Tourism Services.
On August 27, 2024, the Education and Sports Bureau of Fucheng District, Mianyang City responded to netizens, stating that from 2021 to 2024, the majors registered in the national secondary vocational education system and the enrollment information on the website of the Education and Sports Bureau of Mianyang City were all in Maternal and Infant Care, with no nursing majors.
According to Xinhua News Agency, since 2018, Sichuan has stopped adding new secondary vocational schools specializing in medicine and health. Non-medicine and health-related secondary vocational schools and higher vocational colleges no longer add secondary vocational specialties in medicine and health; all secondary and higher vocational colleges no longer add specialties in rural medicine and traditional Chinese medicine; gradually reduce the enrollment scale of existing secondary vocational rural medicine and traditional Chinese medicine specialties, and stop enrolling by 2023.
Staff at the Sichuan Mianyang test center for the nursing professional qualification examination stated that to apply for the nursing professional qualification, one must complete a general full-time nursing or midwifery course in a secondary vocational school or higher education institution for over three years.
In response, Chen Hong expressed that if their three years of vocational schooling experience in secondary vocational school cannot be recognized, they will not be able to apply for the nurse certification in their first year (2024), and will have to wait until graduation in their third year to apply.
Students who do not continue their education will also be unable to apply for the nurse professional qualification exam.
Currently, students and parents of Mianyang Shenghong School have not received a definite answer regarding qualification certification for examination.