A Cook Islands nursing training school, giving local nurses an international qualification, is set to open next year.
The Ministry of Health is planning to re-open the Cook Islands Nursing School, which closed at the end of 2008.
The health secretary Elizabeth Iro says the ministry is currently finalising the budget for the school.
She says the three-year curriculum has been developed, with theoretical and clinical hours mapped out by Auckland University of Technology nursing lecturer, Mary MacManus.
A minimum of 12 students will be accepted on to the course each year, which will meet the New Zealand Qualification Framework.
Elizabeth Iro says they are looking at employing a local lecturer and nurse educators for specific topics from New Zealand, possibly through the Counties Manukau District Health Board.
