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Reviewers plan to recommend that Northwest Mississippi Community College's nursing program be accredited for the coming eight years after an on-site inspection at the college's main campus in Senatobia.

Teams from two accrediting agencies reviewed the program before offering a final recommendation on Sept. 29. The accrediting teams were from the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission Inc. and the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning's nursing education unit.

The teams considered staffing and fiscal issues as well as facilities. Also, the public was allowed to comment on the nursing program as part of the process.

The review found that the program had experienced, qualified faculty; that randomly selected admissions files met proper criteria; and that the program had an "exceptional" student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 and in some cases 8 to 1.

Reviewers also praised the new nursing facility scheduled to open this month, calling the new facility and its teaching technologies "one of the top labs in the country."

Gary Mills, special projects coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, commented during the reviewing teams' public comment period. He said the nursing program helps the area's job recruitment efforts.

Full accreditation by the Mississippi review panel is pending approval by the other group. That group, the National League for Nursing, will act on its team's recommendation of approval when the full accreditation board meets in Atlanta in March.