NEXus – The Nursing Education Xchange: NEXus is a consortium of select institutions that offer online doctoral programs in Nursing (PhD and DNP). Member institutions provide opportunities for and encourage students to take online courses from other member institutions. Students work with their advisors to select the best course/s that can serve as an elective in the student’s degree program or possibly substitute for a required course for an off-time student. Currently, there are 16 institutions across the nation participating in NEXus.  For additional information read the NEXus Annual Update.

The Goal: The overall goal of NEXus is to address the nursing shortage by educating well-prepared nurse educators through application of distance accessible delivery methods, enabling rural nurses to remain in their home communities and be employed in rural nursing education programs.

The Course Xchange: Academic Collaborator Member Institutions offer over 250 online courses annually through the Xchange. Member institutions may participate in the PhD Program, the DNP Program, or both. The list of member institutions and the program/s which they participate in is below. Doctoral students in nursing from member institutions are able to take online courses offered by any other member institution through the Xchange. Courses are placed into clusters based on the academic strengths of the member institutions and revolve around topic areas. A complete list of course offerings can be found at the NEXus Course Catalog.

Guidelines for the Xchange:

  • Students work with their Home Campus Staff Coordinators.
  • Students confer with advisors to determine if courses are appropriate before initiating the enrollment process.
  • Courses indicate which type of students may enroll – Phd Student Only, DNP Students Only, or both PhD and DNP Students. The NEXus Course Catalog includes detailed course descriptions that identify which courses are open to DNP Only, PhD Only or both DNP and PhD students.
  • PhD students will have first priority to enroll in PhD courses offered through NEXus.
  • DNP students will have first priority to enroll in DNP courses offered through NEXus.
  • For instructions on how to enroll in a NEXus course go here.
InstitutionPhD ProgramDNP Program
Arizona State UniversityXX
Loma Linda UniversityX
Oregon Health & Science UniversityXX
The University of IowaXX
The University of OklahomaXX
The University of Texas at TylerX
University of Colorado DenverXX
University of Hawaii at ManoaXX
University of KansasXX
University of Nevada Las VegasX
University of New MexicoX
University of North ColoradoXX
University of UtahXX
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityX
Washington State UniversityX