By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

NORTHERN Marianas College has approved a provisional license, or temporary permit, for what will be the CNMI’s first ever post-secondary nursing school, Emmanuel College.
During yesterday’s cabinet meeting, the governor’s special assistant for education, Dan Nielsen, reported that NMC’s decision is a positive development for the CNMI which aims to promote the islands’ educational industry.
Emmanuel College will provide healthcare and healthcare-related courses to students from the CNMI and the Asia Pacific region.
Its licensed vocational nursing course is based on a curriculum approved by the California Board of Private Secondary and Vocational Education and the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians.
Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the administration is very supportive of the new college as it will help boost the local tourism industry.
“Emmanuel College was granted a provisional license by NMC to start its operation,” he said. “This is a positive development because this administration wants to see an educational industry established here in the CNMI.”
During a presentation before the governor and lawmakers in January, Emmanuel College president and chairwoman Sedy Demesa, said they wanted to open the institution in May.
“This is something that is a clean industry…it’s not controversial… it creates no environmental hazards for the CNMI and has the potential of bringing in tourists to the islands,” Reyes said. “We’re optimistic that it will soon get its permanent license here.”
NMC, he added, is now in the process of evaluating Emmanuel College’s application.
Emmanuel College’s nursing course can be completed in 11 months which, according to the institution, is “short but comprehensive enough to save the students time and money in acquiring a license to practice in the nursing field.”
Reyes said the governor has tasked Nielsen to help with all the legal requirements, applications and licensing requirements of investors who want to open colleges and universities in the CNMI.
The CNMI has been chosen by Demesa’s group because of its strategic location in the Pacific region.
One of the objectives of the college is to bring American education closer to the Asia Pacific region which will, in turn, bring in a new community of visitors to the CNMI — international students mostly from Asia.
Emmanuel College wants to provide a scholarship for one local student for every 10 foreign nursing students that enroll.
After completing the 11-month course, graduates may proceed to take an associate degree in nursing at NMC.
Classes at the new college will be held at the Pacific Towers Hotel, the former Koreana Hotel, in Chalan Kanoa while clinical training will be conducted at the Commonwealth Health Center, doctor’s clinics, home health agencies and the Aging Center.
Demesa is the owner of the Pacific Towers Hotel.
Her faculty will include registered nurses from the CNMI and U.S.-licensed RNs from the Philippines, while guest lecturers will come from the U.S.