College of the North Atlantic’s (CNA) Respiratory Therapy program has had its accreditation withdrawn by the Council on Accreditation for Respiratory Therapy Education (CoARTE). As a result, the college has suspended first year program admissions scheduled for September 2017.
Thirteen students had already confirmed their seat for September 2017, those students will now be contacted by CNA’s Registrar’s Office and will have their application fee refunded, or they may choose to have their application submitted for another non-competitive entry program, pending seat availability. Students who have applied and are currently on the program waitlist (or have incomplete applications on file) will also have their application fee refunded.
The Respiratory Therapy program was placed on one-year probation in June 2016 when deficiencies in numerous program areas were noted.
“We are currently exploring the full impacts of CoARTE’s decision to withdraw our accreditation and how this will affect our current students and faculty members. We will have more information to share with them in short order,” said Dr. Bill Radford, CNA’s Senior Vice-President of Academic and Chief Learning Officer.
There are 20 students currently enrolled for second year and six scheduled to enter the third year of the program in September 2017.
“During the probationary period, CNA made considerable efforts to make improvements in the areas of deficiency noted in CoARTE’s initial reports, however there was not enough progress to warrant accreditation status being awarded,” said Dr. Radford. “CNA’s Modernization Plan 2019 outlines a go- forward plan to address organizational and program quality.”
Over the past five years, 28 of CNA’s Respiratory Therapy graduates have written the national exam with a 100 per cent success rate.
Students scheduled to start the program in September 2017, and those currently enrolled in the program who require additional information, may contact the Registrar’s Office at registrar@cna.nl.ca.
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Media Contact:
Heidi Staeben-Simmons
Director of Public Affairs
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643-7817
heidi.staebensimmons@cna.nl.ca