UNCW School of Nursing accreditation and approval

Fall 2028, and a date that does not match

CCNE last visited the baccalaureate and master's programs in November 2018 and lists the next on-site review for fall 2028. The DNP, reviewed in November 2023, is not due for another visit until fall 2033.

UNCW's documents disagree on one detail. The RN-BSN Student Handbook 2026-2027 says the accreditation awarded in 2018 runs for ten years, in effect through 2028. CCNE's directory runs the term to June 30, 2029, with the review visit in fall 2028. The directory is the accreditor's own record; if the difference matters for an application or a job, ask the School of Nursing which date it reports.

Outside review is not new at UNCW. The DNP handbook traces NLN accreditation back to 1987, with CCNE's first five-year accreditation following in 2004. The DNP itself began in fall 2016 with the post-APRN track, added its BSN-DNP concentrations in 2020, and was first accredited by CCNE in November 2018.

The accredited Simulation Learning Center in McNeill Hall

UNCW's Simulation Learning Center is fully accredited in Teaching and Education by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. It fills roughly 10,000 square feet on the second and third floors of McNeill Hall, with labs for health assessment, acute and critical care, pediatrics, maternal-infant care, the operating and emergency rooms, outpatient exam rooms and home care.

The clinical handbook describes six specialty labs, a five-room Home Care Lab and an outpatient clinic with three exam rooms, along with a debriefing seminar room and a control room with video capture. Training uses high, medium and low-fidelity manikins as well as standardized patients.

The center serves more than prelicensure students. UNCW says nurse practitioner students use it to practice advanced assessments and skills. Lab time still sits apart from your preceptor hours, because UNCW counts only direct patient care as clinical hours; campus requirements for DNP students are on orientation and intensives.

What clinical sites and preceptors ask about

In a placement, accreditation mostly surfaces through paperwork. UNCW's preceptor pages ask for a current CV with experience dates and the clinical site listed under professional experience, and they give the reason: the CV is required for CCNE accreditation and for preceptor approval. A CV missing either detail cannot do that job.

Sites raise other institutional questions as well. When an agency wants proof of student liability coverage, the certificate of insurance request goes to CHHS Academic Affairs with the student's name, course, term, agency supervisor and address. When a site wants a formal affiliation agreement, the site signs it and the CHHS Dean must sign too; see affiliation agreements.

UNCW's public handbooks include no standard accreditation letter for sites. If a health system's onboarding asks about accreditation, share the CCNE directory listing and send anything further through the Clinical Placement Team.

Our placement desk builds each preceptor's CV entry the way UNCW asks for it, with dates and site, along with the license number, evaluation email, agency, address and county, so the packet reaches the Graduate Clinical Coordinator complete. See preceptor information to submit or use the form below.