Nursing education to celebrate learning.

Institutions of higher education currently face a number of challenges, from the increasing diversity of students, a growing disparity between what society and what the university defines as its core mission, and society's transition from an industrial economy to an information economy. As part of such institutions, schools of nursing will need to consider a new "business design," which may include: new course formats that will keep groups of students together for several years in the same "learning communities"; use of Internet communications for projects and public exhibitions and defenses of results instead of the regular weekly scheduled class; offering programs for learning entrepreneurship, business practice, management, and leadership; and establishing programs for working professionals that promise, deliver, and certify specified competencies.