Return to Practice Nursing
Part-time Postgraduate course
Faculty:
Faculty of Life and Health Sciences
School:
School of Nursing
Campus:
Belfast campus
Start date:
September 2025
Ulster University is the sole provider for Return to Practice Nursing in Northern Ireland.
If you have ever considered returning to nursing, now is the time to do it. Our return to practice programme is designed for nurses from all fields of practice (adult, mental health, learning disabilities and children’s nursing) whose NMC registration has lapsed, who have practiced for fewer than 750 hours in the previous five years, or 450 hours in the three years before their application for readmission to the register.
The focus of the course is on enabling you to regain your confidence in knowledge and practice and to update your clinical skills, knowledge, numeracy, literacy, digital and technological literacy in a safe and effective way, to meet the NMC standards of proficiency for registered nurses.
A variety of approaches support learning and assessment, considering your intended area of practice, personal circumstances and prior learning and experience.
You are normally expected to undertake between 150 and 400 hours of supernumerary clinical practice to achieve the practice-based requirements for the programme. The exact number of hours will be determined following an assessment process that considers your prior learning and experience and the length of time since you last practised.
This programme enables you to:
Application is made using our online application system. Assessment of your application will follow with an invitation to attend for interview.
Interview in June 2025 for September 2025 intake.
Interview in June 2026 for September 2026 intake
Interviews will take place virtually.
In preparation for the interview, we recommend that you think about the reason why you want to come back to nursing and consider some of the changes that have happened in nursing since you left. Take some time to look at some websites – we would recommend the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Northern Ireland Practice Education Council (NIPEC).
Develop an awareness of issues related to the health service and your field of practice that are reported in the media. It is also a good idea to identify how you plan to manage the demands of returning to study and practice and to identify some strategies you might want to put in place to ensure you maintain good work and life balance.
If you are interested in applying for the Return to Practice Programme, please click on the link below to access our Online Applications process.
Once you have set up your username, please choose Postgraduate Part Time as your application type to ensure your application is processed correctly.
When prompted for your programme choice, please scroll down to Nursing, Return to Practice - Part Time, Belfast.
Postgraduate fees are subject to annual review, 2025/26 fees will be announced in due course.
See our tuition fees page for the current fees for 2024/25 entry.
Access NI check, uniform, vaccinations if required, cost of travel to and from placement, study days (including care parking charges).
We know that choosing to study at university is a big decision, and you may not always be able to find the information you need online.
Please contact Ulster University with any queries or questions you might have about:
For any queries regarding getting help with your application, please select Admissions in the drop down below.
For queries related to course content, including modules and placements, please select Course specific information.
We look forward to hearing from you.
In this section
Assessment methods vary and are defined explicitly in each module. Assessment can be via one method or a combination e.g. examination and coursework . Assessment is designed to assess your achievement of the module’s stated learning outcomes.
This module is assessed through completion of a 2000 word annotated bibliography and through completion of an electronic Practice Assessment Document. You can expect to receive timely feedback on coursework assessment.
The precise assessment will depend on the module and may be subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. You will be consulted about any significant changes.
Details of assessment methods will be made available in advance through induction, the course handbook, the module specification and the assessment timetable. The details are subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. You will be consulted about any significant changes.
As part of your course induction, you will be provided with details of the organisation and management of the course, including attendance and assessment requirements - usually in the form of a timetable.
The content for each course is summarised on the relevant course page, along with an overview of the module that make up the course. Each course is approved by the University and meets the expectations of:
The University employs over 1,000 suitably qualified and experienced academic staff - 60% have PhDs in their subject field and many have professional body recognition.
Courses are taught by staff who are Professors (19%), Readers, Senior Lecturers (22%) or Lecturers (57%).
We require most academic staff to be qualified to teach in higher education: 82% hold either Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education Practice or higher. Most academic and learning support staff (85%) are recognised as fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) by Advance HE - the university sector professional body for teaching and learning. Many academic and technical staff hold other professional body designations related to their subject or scholarly practice.
The profiles of many academic staff can be found on the University’s departmental websites and give a detailed insight into the range of staffing and expertise. The precise staffing for a course will depend on the department(s) involved and the availability and management of staff. This is subject to change annually and is confirmed in the timetable issued at the start of the course.
Occasionally, teaching may be supplemented by suitably qualified part-time staff (usually qualified researchers) and specialist guest lecturers. In these cases, all staff are inducted, mostly through our staff development programme ‘First Steps to Teaching’. In some cases, usually for provision in one of our out-centres, Recognised University Teachers are involved, supported by the University in suitable professional development for teaching.
Figures from the academic year 2022-2023.
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We recognise a range of qualifications for admission to our courses. In addition to the specific entry conditions for this course you must also meet the University’s General Entrance Requirements.
In this section
In accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Standards for return to practice programmes (NMC, 2019), on entry to the programme you must:
Practice learning experiences are organised using a regional approach between the university and our practice learning partners in the five Trusts in Northern Ireland.
Intakes are in September (Semester 1) each year.
In this section
Following successful completion of the course you will be eligible to rejoin the NMC Register. You will also receive 40 academic credits.
It is important to remember that costs associated with accommodation, travel (including car parking charges) and normal living will need to be covered in addition to tuition fees.
Where a course has additional mandatory expenses (in addition to tuition fees) we make every effort to highlight them above. We aim to provide students with the learning materials needed to support their studies. Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals, as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. Computer suites and free Wi-Fi are also available on each of the campuses.
There are additional fees for graduation ceremonies, examination resits and library fines.
Students choosing a period of paid work placement or study abroad as a part of their course should be aware that there may be additional travel and living costs, as well as tuition fees.
See the tuition fees on our student guide for most up to date costs.
We know that choosing to study at university is a big decision, and you may not always be able to find the information you need online.
Please contact Ulster University with any queries or questions you might have about:
For any queries regarding getting help with your application, please select Admissions in the drop down below.
For queries related to course content, including modules and placements, please select Course specific information.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Ulster continues to develop and support sustainability initiatives with our staff, students, and external partners across various aspects of teaching, research, professional services operations, and governance.
At Ulster every person, course, research project, and professional service area on every campus either does or can contribute in some way towards the global sustainability and climate change agenda.
We are guided by both our University Strategy People, Place and Partnerships: Delivering Sustainable Futures for All and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Our work in this area is already being recognised globally. Most recently by the 2024 Times Higher Education Impact rating where we were recognised as Joint 5th Globally for Outreach Activities and Joint Top 20 Globally for Sustainable Development Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals.
Visit our Sustainability at Ulster destination to learn more about how the University strategy and the activities of Ulster University support each of the Sustainable Development Goals.
