Archive image — © JORIS HERREGODS
There is once again more interest in the nursing profession, the bottleneck profession in Flanders. This academic year, 2,511 students started the bachelor’s program, and in 2022 this will still be 2,369. That is an increase of just under 6 percent, Het Laatste Nieuws and De Morgen report.
The positive trend continues in all Flemish colleges. UCLL Leuven records an increase of 20 percent for first-year students, while at Odisee Aalst and Erasmus Brussels it is 25 percent. Not only is the total number of first-years increasing, 4.75 percent more ‘generation students’ have also registered, students who immediately choose nursing after secondary school.
Yet the total number of nursing students is the lowest in five years. There are now 7,712 students following the nursing course, in the academic year 2021-2022 the course still had 8,217 students. The higher number was the result of the pandemic, which encouraged many young people to study nursing. Last academic year, 14 percent fewer students enrolled. This year there has been an increase again, but of course it cannot suddenly make up for the decrease in 2022, says Flemish healthcare ambassador Candice De Windt.
A nursing degree is a guarantee of employment. At the VDAB, ‘nursing’ is at the top of the list of shortage professions, with 10,794 vacancies between January and December 2023. Of these, 2,106 were unfilled at the end of the year.