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Mercy College Youngstown nursing programs moving to Toledo

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A Youngstown nursing school plans to move operations to the Toledo area.

Mercy Health and Bowling Green State University announced Wednesday that they have signed a letter of intent to transfer operations of Mercy College of Ohio to Bowling Green State University.

Mercy College of Ohio, a partner of Mercy Health, is at the same location as St. Elizabeth Hospital on Belmont Avenue in Youngstown.

The move is an effort to address a statewide shortage of nurses and the high demand for other health professionals, according to a joint news release.

The transfer, which would include Mercy College's nine-degree programs and six certificate programs, is expected to take two to three years to complete.

In the meantime, Mercy College officials say they will continue to serve 200 associate degree students in Youngstown and 1,300 enrolled in multiple degree programs in Toledo.

Students will be able to complete their programs of study according to Mercy College president Susan Wajert.

The news release says Mercy Health will serve as a partner with BGSU and will provide clinical experiences for students and employment opportunities for graduates.

Earlier this year, the University of Toledo notified BGSU that it wanted to phase out a 40-year partnership, prompting BGSU to develop a full nursing program.

"When UT approached us about discontinuing the consortium we both recognized that it limited our ability to meet the growing demand for nurses and health care providers," Rogers said. "Adding Mercy College to BGSU gives us high-quality, extremely competitive nursing and allied health programs that we can build upon and grow. We look forward to building upon this initiative with Mercy Health and upon our partnerships with other health care providers to continue developing new programs to meet the workforce needs of the state of Ohio in health care."

Any final agreement will require the approval of the BGSU Board of Trustees and the boards of trustees for Mercy College and Mercy Health.

In addition, the Ohio Department of Higher Education, the Higher Learning Commission, the Ohio Board of Nursing, the U.S. Department of Education, and professional accrediting bodies for each of the accredited programs will also need to approve the plan.


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