Would you like a responsible job that revolves around people’s health and well-being? If so, studying nursing prepares you exceptionally well for a career encompassing a wide range and variety of valuable activities. A higher education programme in nursing provides an impressive combination of proximity with people and scientific work, qualifying you particularly to perform highly complex processes in this field.
As a nurse, you will assist people in all age groups facing acute health issues, and in restoring or maintaining their good health. You will help meet their interests in consideration of their own particular life circumstances and social setting.
The special tasks assumed by nurses with a bachelor’s degree include scientific work on specialist issues in nursing:
- Planning, coordinating, conducting and evaluating complex nursing measures
- Advising people in need of care and their close contacts on matters of health promotion, disease prevention, care, therapies and rehabilitation
- Scrutinising, evaluating and critically applying the results of research
- Preparing and performing medically prescribed measures for diagnostics and treatments
- Initiating and performing lifesaving measures in emergencies
- Working with different health professionals as a team
- Evaluating the quality of nursing and advancing it on a scientific basis
Furthermore, to ensure that you learn practically relevant knowledge from the start, you will complete one or two intensively mentored internships each semester in a wide range of facilities throughout your degree programme. We will also support you with team-oriented learning and working in a relaxed atmosphere, in which teachers and students know and respect one another.
NOW! Nursing students will be awarded a training allowance for the duration of their degree programme (further info from the Federal Ministry of Health).
At a glance
Award
Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.)
Study mode
full-time, dual
Standard duration
8
ECTS credits
240
Starts
winter semester
Restricted admission
no
Taught in
German
Faculty
Social and Health Studies
Study abroad
optional
Accreditation
AHPGS, German Accreditation Council
Details about this course
This degree programme combines the theoretical and practical cornerstones of the three major fields in health care (geriatric, medical & paediatric nursing) with science.
The aim of the programme is to give you insights into as many aspects of nursing as possible by means of theoretical input and hands-on experience so as to instil a broad base of specialist knowledge.
The foundation course (semesters 1 to 3) addresses issues relating to health, illness and the human body. You will already start learning the practical methods and communication skills for dealing with people in need of care, while also developing a systematic approach to working independently and scientifically.
The advanced course (semesters 4 to 7) teaches more profound knowledge and skills based on practical examples in areas of specialist care. You will learn to understand the individual problems and wishes of people in need of care, and to explain these with the aid of your theoretical knowledge. Other aspects of the programme give you deeper insights into the sciences related to nursing that also need taking into consideration – medicine, psychology, sociology, ethics, ecology, law, politics and business administration. Practical clinical skills lie at the heart of professional nursing. Simulations in the Skills Lab at Kempten University of Applied Sciences give you the chance to train hands-on skills in a risk-free but realistic interactive environment. This special form of higher education is a key component in your degree programme from the first semester on.
During the final two semesters, students take the state examinations for their professional accreditation and work on their bachelor’s thesis examining a nursing topic using scientific methodology. Upon successfully completing the programme, the university of applied sciences will award you the academic degree of Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.). This degree qualifies you to use the professional title “Nurse B.Sc.”.
Hands-on nursing stints are planned for each semester, generally at the end of the lecturing period. From the third semester on, practical blocks are also integrated into the lecturing period. During each of these placements, you will act as part of a nursing or therapeutic team led by experienced supervisors. In addition, you will be visited regularly by university lecturers to help you reflect upon your hands-on experiences on the basis of nursing science and thus support your transfer of knowledge between theory and practice.
In total, you will spend 2,300 hours accumulating “hands-on learning”, partly in the form of preparatory simulation training at the university. You will complete at least 400 hours each in general acute nursing, general long-term nursing on wards and in peripatetic care. In addition, you will learn about further special areas of professional care, such as paediatrics and psychiatry, and gain insights into health-related provision structures.
The demand for nurses with a degree is going to increase in the future. Graduates will enjoy excellent career prospects and very good opportunities as nursing experts, and could also embark upon a scientific career.
Professional nursing is a meaningful, scientifically based, health-focused activity involving close contact with people. This degree programme prepares you to work in all areas of nursing practice. Nurses accompany and support people of all ages and their close contacts when they face potential or actual health problems and are in need of care. They promote good health, guard against illness, improve healing, and reduce suffering. They are responsible for transferring proven findings in international research into nursing practice. They might work, for example, in hospitals, care homes, doctors’ practices, mobile care services, children’s clinics or even sheltered accommodation. The often complex duties require good collaboration in teams with other health professionals.
Graduates can anticipate a dynamically evolving field of work, with a wide range of career opportunities and the possibility of progressing to a master’s programme in nursing education, nursing management, etc.
The health sector is being fundamentally overhauled in the face of changing demographics. New technologies and digitalisation are set to transform nursing and medicine in the future (aka “nursing 4.0”). This calls for experts who can accompany the process, also from a scientifically founded nursing perspective. Ultimately, the aim is to identify innovative solutions to benefit people in need of nursing and their carers.
Be a part of this innovation yourself!
Have we whetted your appetite for the degree programme in nursing? If so, we would be delighted for you to apply. We have pooled all the information and details you might need about applying and the admission requirements .
If you are an international applicant, please note the information about the required German language skills!
As soon as you have successfully applied and received an offer, you can commence the enrolment process. Due to the special nature of the nursing degree programme, you will need the following documents:
1. Health certificate and detailed certificate of good conduct
Professional nursing carries a great deal of responsibility, working with people at critical stages of life. You must therefore provide evidence – at the latest, during enrolment – of your state of health (health certificate) and of your reliability for performing this duty (detailed certificate of conduct). Both certificates must not be older than three months at the time of enrolment. For the health certificate, you must have the mandatory form provided by us completed by a doctor’s surgery. To obtain a detailed certificate of conduct, you can either apply in person by presenting your ID card or passport to the local registration authority, or use the online application service provided by the Federal Department of Justice . Your certificate will usually arrive by post within one or two weeks. For further information, please visit the Federal Department of Justice website.
2. Training contract
Nursing students receive appropriate remuneration for the entire duration of their studies. However, this requires a training contract with an institution that collaborates with Kempten University of Applied Sciences and which, in particular, pays the student’s wage and is also their workplace for most of the practical modules.* Please apply independently as a nursing student to our affiliated institutions, at the latest once we offer you a place on the degree programme (list of collaboration partners). We have to check the training contract before you enrol.
If you have any questions about the training contract or collaborating partner institutions, please contact the placement officer for this degree programme – Stefan Maurer. He will be happy to advise and assist you!
*Re. workplace: The numbers of hours of practical training that must be completed in specific areas of practice are stipulated by legislation, which means that you will complete internships in all the prescribed practical areas, regardless of the partner organisation in which you are employed. For example, if you are employed by an outpatient or inpatient nursing service, you will still complete numerous practical stints in clinical departments.
3. If applicable, evidence of language proficiency at level C1
If your higher education entrance qualification was earned outside Germany or at a non-German-speaking institution, you must provide evidence of German language skills corresponding to at least level C1 of the Common European Reference Framework for Languages (CEFR) set by the Council of Europe.
Have you already formally trained as a nurse?
If so, you can start your first semester and get almost all the modules studied during the first three semesters counted towards your degree. For further information about this, please contact the academic advisor for this degree programme at pflege(at)hs-kempten.de .
We subscribe to the values of openness, tolerance and acceptance. Our aim is to teach everyone involved at Kempten University of Applied Sciences about education in an international context. As part of this, we support university-wide, inter-faculty measures to promote international projects and cross-cultural interaction.
To hone your intercultural skills, we expect you to undertake a 5‑week nursing internship abroad during the 6th semester, which can be extended on an individual bass to last for up to two months. It is up to you which country you choose. This experience enables you to get to know a different health system and enriches your experiences in hands-on nursing.
Are you interested in learning more about our international aspirations and the options for you to study abroad? Then we invite you to check out our international webpages.
We compile all study programme and examination regulations centrally for you. There you will find all versions and changes. continue
Further details about the degree programme
Professional qualification as a registered nurse
Kempten University of Applied Sciences awards students who successfully complete this degree programme the academic title Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.). In addition, you can apply to the Swabian government for authorisation to practise as a nursing specialist.
Contacts
We know how exciting the prospect of going to university can be. So we want you to know whom you can get in touch with if you have any questions about studying with us.
- Student Advisory Service
For general questions about studying and applications, please contact the Student Advisory Service. - academic advisor
If you have any questions about the degree programme in Nursing, please contact an academic advisor or email pflege(at)hs-kempten.de
FAQ
Why should I study rather than train vocationally?
As a university-trained specialist nurse, you will take on responsible and demanding tasks, can expect higher earnings and open up different careers. In certain areas, you will even be able to perform duties that were previously reserved for medics.
You can find further information above under “Career prospects”.
What are my chances of getting onto the programme if I apply?
Very good! At the moment, the number of places on this degree programme is not capped. This means that you will certainly be offered a place if you apply for one and are eligible to study at university (with a senior secondary school certificate, e.g. “Abitur” or subject-specific “Fachabitur”, or as a formally trained worker). Further information about applications.
I have completed vocational training, but I don’t have a college/school leaving certificate for entering higher education. Can I apply nonetheless?
Yes, candidates who are vocationally trained but don’t have a university entrance certificate (from a school or college) can also be admitted. You can find out how on our webpage about Studying without “Abitur”.
You must attend an individual consultation in order to be admitted. Simply email pflege(at)hs-kempten.de. We’ll be happy to advise you!
I have already completed vocational training or relevant professional development / additional training. Can I get any of this counted towards the degree?
If you have completed vocational training in nursing, in principle it is possible to get this counted towards certain modules on the programme.
Since studying for a degree in nursing is based on scientific principles, the content in your vocational training might have been very different in certain respects. Hence accreditation of training is considered on an individual basis in certain cases. Under specific circumstances, it might also be possible to recognise other training pathways towards individual modules – if the subject matter, scope and level are comparable.
If you have any questions in this respect, please contact our academic advisors atpflege(at)hs-kempten.de.
I have already completed a degree programme, or started one. Can I get any of this counted towards the degree?
This depends entirely on the individual circumstances. As a general rule, we are obliged to count skills that you have acquired at a university, unless there is a considerable difference between the skills them and those attached to the target module in our degree programme. So you must check precisely which of the modules that you have previously completed match those in our degree programme.
If you are unsure whether your specific skills can be credited, please ask our academic advisors at pflege(at)hs-kempten.de. After that, you will need to apply for credit points via Academic Registry. They can also provide you with the relevant form.
I can’t / don’t wish to work in direct contact with people requiring care anymore. Does this programme give me the chance to move into other areas of work?
Fundamentally, this degree programme aims to train students for working with people in need of care, albeit involving greater responsibility and more complex requirements. However, it also also trains you to perform activities that go beyond hands-on care. Nonetheless, if you do not wish to perform any direct care duties (anymore), this is not the right degree programme for you. In that case, perhaps our bachelor’s degree programme in Health Management would suit you, which trains students for administration and managerial roles in health services.
What is meant by administering medical practices?
Administering medical practices will enable you to work largely independently treating chronic wounds, dementia and diabetic metabolism following a doctor’s diagnosis. This opens up the opportunity to later specialise professionally as an advanced nurse practitioner –
Will I earn more once I gain this qualification?
We assume this to be the case. However, the university cannot guarantee this, as salaries are either fixed or freely negotiated between employers and employees. There is potential for an appointment at salary band 9b under the Public Service Wage Agreement (“TVöD”), for example. Fundamentally, facilities interested in specialist nursing/care staff with academic qualifications know that they have to offer commensurate salaries. If they are so inclined, they will generally find ways of ensuring appropriate remuneration, although this proves easier for private operators than for state-run or church-funded facilities, who are tied to fixed salary scales. Having said that, decent salaries can also be found in those segments.
What is the timetable like? When are lectures held?
The situation varies from one semester to the next. The schedule for modules and classes is set one to two months in advance of each semester, and you can inspect it once you are accepted and have enrolled on the degree programme. As this is a full-time degree programme, you must reckon with classes being scheduled for each day of the week, even if there is sometimes one day without.
What are the semester dates, and do students have any commitments during vacation time?
You can check the dates in the calendar . The practical stints each run partly into the breaks between semesters.
Are any courses conducted in English? If so, how many – and do I also have to take exams in English?
This degree programme is taught in German. In some cases, a course might also be offered in English, in which case this would also apply to the exam. The English you were taught in school will be sufficient for this purpose.
What does the course cost?
There are no tuition fees for this degree programme. The only expenses will be the usual costs associated with studying, such as the semester fee and very small sums for photocopying, buying books, etc. There might also be (similarly low) costs for field trips, which are heavily subsidised by the university.