Saving time and costs: Kenyan nurses no longer need to travel for VUE exams
Nurses in the country are breathing a sigh of relief with the launching of the Pearson Virtual University Enterprises (VUE) Test Center in Nairobi.
Nurses in the country are breathing a sigh of relief with the launch of the Pearson Virtual University Enterprises (VUE) Test Centre in Nairobi. Moving forward, nurses will no longer be required to travel abroad to sit for their National Council licensure examination.
The Centre for Certifying and Licencing Nursing Professionals was launched on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, in Kenya and is the second in Africa after South Africa.
Pearson VUE Test Centre is an assessment provider administering the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), a crucial test for nursing licensure across the United States, Canada, and Australia.
During the centre's opening, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said the centre would enable nurses qualifying from public and private training institutions to meet the requirements for securing international jobs, where the demand for nursing skills is ever-rising.
"We have 2,000 nursing professionals who have taken these exams recently and are now awaiting interviews for job placements abroad," said Mudavadi. "Beyond creating jobs, this will increase diaspora remittances and enable our nurses to share the skills and experiences acquired abroad with their colleagues back home," Mudavadi added.
Mudavadi further noted that the number of nurses taking the exams will increase if the Pearson test process aligns with the nursing training curriculum in the country.
Mudavadi noted that the centre would allow the government to rapidly scale up the licencing and certification of nurses. Two thousand nursing professionals have taken the exams recently and are awaiting interviews for job placements abroad. Mudavadi said the move would be replicated in other sectors of the economy, arguing that the more Kenyans get engaged beyond the borders, the more the country attracts diaspora remittances that will go a long way in creating job opportunities.
Mudavadi appreciated Representative Mohamud Noor, a member of the Minnesota State Assembly, who spearheaded the initiative in partnership with the State Department for Diaspora Affairs and the Kenyan Embassy in Washington, DC.
Rep. Mohamud emphasized the urgent need for thousands of nurses in the USA. Minnesota alone anticipates a demand for 10,000 nurses, while the country will require around 800,000 nurses in the coming years. Selected nurses will be granted permanent residency status and enjoy various rights in America.
Pearson announced that the centre is expected to facilitate the annual testing of up to 3,000 nurses.
He further noted that his office would work closely with the Ministry of Health and other technical and professional institutions in the nursing ecosystem to reap maximum benefits from the centre. "We will also work closely with the Ministry of Labour to expand opportunities for Kenyans working abroad," Mudavadi said.
Speaking during the launch, Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha said the centre in the country would be a relief for nursing trainees who came from poor backgrounds and were having a tough time travelling to South Africa for the exam. Health CS Susan Nakhumicha, who spoke at the inauguration, stated that the centre would greatly help nursing trainees from humble backgrounds since it would cut the cost of travelling to South Africa.
"Our nurses who train at KMTC come from very humble backgrounds, so the cost of them having to travel to South Africa to do the exam was such a big limiting factor, and now that has been waived for them," Nakhumicha said.
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