In response to a review of its strategic plan aimed at positioning it for future enrollment growth, the MGH Institute has announced the first phase of a restructuring plan. The school’s Graduate Programs in Nursing officially became the MGH Institute of Health Professions School of Nursing, effective March 1, 2009.

According to Dr. Alex Johnson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, “This is more than a name change. We made the decision to reorganize based on the program’s expansion of nursing degree options and its sustained enrollment growth, which now constitutes 40 percent of our total student body.”

The MGH Institute of Health Professions, founded by Massachusetts General Hospital in 1977, became the successor institution to the hospital’s longstanding diploma School of Nursing which closed in 1981 during a time when nursing education nationally was shifting to a university model of preparation.

The MGH Institute’s Graduate Program in Nursing was one of the first in the nation to develop and offer a direct-entry Master of Science in Nursing for non-nurses wishing to become nurse practitioners. The direct-entry master’s program is currently ranked sixth in New England by US News & World Report Best Graduate Schools. Today, the MGH Institute’s School of Nursing has more than 300 students enrolled in a variety of degree and certificate programs.

In 2007 a 14-month Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing was added, and that same year the MGH Institute became one of the first schools in the nation to offer the new Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree. The nursing program, which has produced more than 1,200 graduates since awarding its first nursing degree in 1985, received a record 800 applications for the 2009-2010 academic year.