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Background Information About the Guru Nanak Partnership Project
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Historical Background
[Photo at Right - Mr. Budh Singh Dhahan, Sr.]
The Guru Nanak College of Nursing is a result of the visionary leadership of Mr. Budh Singh Dhahan, who came to Canada from India in 1959. Mr. Dhahan's long- term objective was to uplift the poor and less educated in his homeland, especially among young girls and women. The Guru Nanak Mission Medical & Educational Trust (India) and the Canada-India Guru Nanak Medical & Educational Society (Canada) were incorporated toward this purpose, and share a common vision to improve the quality of peoples' lives through community based health care, education and job creation in the rural villages around Dhahan-Kalaran in the Jullundar and Nawashahar districts of Punjab. Subsequent to the creation of a girls school on site, and after many years of planning and fundraising, Mr. Dhahan and his local supporters in the Punjab, opened a 40 bed hospital in Dhahan-Kalaran in 1984. Most of the financial backing for this initial project was generated by family members and friends in Vancouver. This hospital has expanded considerably over times, and now has 250 inpatient beds. In 1993, the Guru Nanak College of Nursing was opened with a diploma program; in 1998, a baccalaureate program in nursing with an intake of 50 students per year, was approved. Both the diploma and baccalaureate programs will continue in the College, and when the first baccalaureate class graduates, the degree will be conferred by the Baba Farid University of health sciences, Faridkot, Punjab.
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University of British Columbia School of Nursing Involvement
In the fall of 1997, representatives from the Canada-India Guru Nanak Medical & Educational Society (the Society) approached the School of Nursing for discussions with regard to a possible partnership between the College of Nursing and the University of British Columbia. In April of 1998, three faculty members from the School (Donelda Parker, Janet Ericksen, and Gurpal Sandhu), together with two members of the Society (Barj Dhahan and Sarup Mann) visited Dhahan-Kaleran to determine the feasibility of a partnership project. They returned with a recommendation that a partnership be pursued, and this recommendation was approved by the Full Faculty of the UBC SoN in June, 1998. Following the approval by the faculty, a Guru Nanak Advisory Committee was established with representation from the School, the Society, and the local nursing community.
A partnership agreement was signed in September, 1998, between the Guru Nanak College of Nursing, The Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (the original degree granting authority), and the University of British Columbia School of Nursing. The purpose of the partnership was articulated as fostering the development of nursing education, practice, and research and the promotion of international relations in nursing. A major initiative within this partnership is for the faculty members from the Guru Nanak College of Nursing and the University of British Columbia School of Nursing to work collaboratively toward the development of an internationally recognized baccalaureate degree program in nursing at the Guru Nanak College of Nursing. An internationally recognized baccalaureate degree program in nursing is one which would prepare an individual to be eligible for registration internationally and would articulate to Canadian standards for admission to Master of Nursing programs which we understand to be acceptable internationally.
Guru Nanak Partnership Project Advisory Committee
C/O UBC School of Nursing
T201 - 2211 Wesbrook Mall
Vancouver, BC, Canada
V6T 2B5
Phone: (604) 822-7422
FAX: (604) 822-7466
Guru Nanak Partnership Project E-Mail
GuruNanakProject@aol.com
Link to UBC School of Nursing Home Page:
http://www.nursing.ubc.ca/
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