Oct 18, 2013 10:59 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Norfolk State University (NSU) officials are planning to erase the school's two-year nursing program that's been facing trouble for the past three years. The associate-degree nursing program allows students to earn their RN licensure in just two years.

In March, the Virginia Board of Nursing asked the university to stop recruiting for the program following its graduates' poor performance on the National Council Licensure Examination, a national licensing exam. The test requires graduates to score 80 percent or higher.

For NSU, 76 percent associate-degree graduates passed the test in 2010, 48 percent in 2011 and 54 percent in 2012.

At the time of the suspension, the university promised to improve the program and even recruited a new coordinator to help the program succeed. 

However, Interim President Eddie Moore Jr, said that the school now plans to scrap the two-year program, WVEC reports.

"There are some opportunities for us to enhance and strengthen our nursing program out of this," Moore said. "I talked to the provost as recently as this morning and the two-year program, we are planning on giving that up, and we believe that will actually strengthen the four-year program."

The university spokeswoman Cheryl Bates-Lee said that no final decision has been made yet. In order to end the program, the university officials will have to wait for a vote by the NSU's governing board.

"Discussions are underway to determine the feasibility of eliminating that program and expanding the four-year program," university spokeswoman Cheryl Bates-Lee told Hamptonroads.

Currently, the University is offering a program for licensed practical nurses (to earn a four-year degree) and for those with other four year degrees (to become a nurse).

"We hope to expand that and have another four-year degree offered," Moore said.

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