Masters in Women Health & Development (WHD) at Maharajgunj Nursing Campus is a two-year postgraduate nursing program focused on women's health, maternal health, and related nursing practice. It is offered within the Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University academic framework.
The program is part of the campus's Master in Nursing structure and is administered academically through the Women Health & Development/Midwifery area. Students combine advanced specialty theory and practical work with nursing theories, epidemiology and statistics, research, educational science, health-service management, and thesis preparation.
Maharajgunj Nursing Campus is a constituent campus of the Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu. Women Health and Development is one of its established postgraduate nursing specialty areas.
| Particular | Details |
|---|---|
| Course | Masters in Women Health & Development (WHD) |
| Institution | Maharajgunj Nursing Campus |
| Academic Framework | Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University |
| Level | Master |
| Duration | 2 years |
| Specialty Area | Women Health & Development / Maternal Health Nursing |
| Entrance Route | MECEE-PG |
| Prior Qualification | BNS or B.Sc. Nursing |
| Work Experience | One year |
| Major Components | WHD theory and practical, research, education, management, thesis |
The course forms part of the wider Master in Nursing pathway under Tribhuvan University. Its specialty component is organized as Women Health & Development I during the first year and Women Health & Development II during the second year.
Women Health & Development is closely connected with maternal, reproductive, and women's health nursing. The specialty places these areas within a postgraduate nursing framework rather than treating them only as individual clinical subjects.
Its academic setting is linked with the Women Health & Development/Midwifery Department, which works across nursing and midwifery education. Maternal and neonatal health form central areas of the department's academic and practical work.
At master's level, students are expected to study specialty nursing together with broader professional areas such as:
The course therefore combines specialty clinical preparation with research, education, and management rather than concentrating on one aspect of women's healthcare alone.
Applicants for Masters in Women Health & Development must meet the postgraduate nursing admission requirements.
The academic requirements include:
Admission depends on meeting all applicable requirements rather than entrance performance alone.
Professional nursing registration is particularly important because this is a postgraduate nursing specialty intended for candidates who already have the required nursing education and professional background.
Admission to the WHD program follows the postgraduate medical education framework administered by the Medical Education Commission.
Eligible candidates must participate in the applicable MECEE-PG entrance process.
The admission framework covers:
Meeting the qualifying entrance standard allows candidates to proceed within the merit process, but admission also depends on matching, seat availability, and the procedures applicable to the concerned intake.
Seats, scholarship arrangements, fees, matching procedures, and examination guidelines are subject to the prevailing rules and decisions of the Medical Education Commission. Figures from an earlier admission year should therefore not be treated as permanent.
The postgraduate nursing entrance examination covers the major nursing disciplines studied before entry to master's-level education.
| Examination Component | Structure |
|---|---|
| Question Type | Single-best-response multiple-choice questions |
| Number of Questions | 200 |
| Options | Four options per question |
| Duration | 3 hours |
| Cognitive Distribution | Recall 30%, Understanding 50%, Application 20% |
The entrance syllabus includes:
The entrance assessment is therefore broader than the WHD specialty itself. Candidates are examined across the nursing knowledge expected before postgraduate specialization.
The two-year Master in Nursing structure combines common postgraduate nursing subjects with specialty theory and practical study.
The first-year academic components include:
For WHD students, the specialty components are Women Health & Development I Theory and Women Health & Development I Practical.
The first year therefore develops advanced specialty learning while also establishing the research, statistical, educational, and management foundation required for postgraduate nursing study.
The second year advances the specialty and gives greater emphasis to independent academic work.
The main components include:
For this specialization, the advanced specialty courses are Women Health & Development II Theory and Women Health & Development II Practical.
The sequence from WHD I to WHD II provides continuity between the first and second years while thesis work adds a research-focused component to the degree.
Practical study is built directly into both years of the specialty.
Women Health & Development I has theory and practical components in the first year, while Women Health & Development II continues the same arrangement in the second year.
This structure allows students to connect advanced academic study with supervised practice in women's, maternal, and related health settings.
The Women Health & Development/Midwifery academic area also uses simulation-based learning as part of practical preparation. Simulation creates a controlled setting for developing clinical skills, decision-making, communication, and procedural confidence before or alongside direct clinical experience.
Practical learning in this area is particularly relevant because maternal and women's healthcare involves assessment, observation, communication, counseling, technical skills, and coordinated clinical care.
Maternal and neonatal health forms an important part of the academic environment surrounding the WHD specialty.
The Women Health & Development/Midwifery Department is connected with education in nursing, midwifery, maternal health, and neonatal health. This creates an academic setting in which master's students study women's health alongside broader teaching and practical activities in maternal and newborn care.
The department also contributes to undergraduate nursing and midwifery programs, including B.Sc. Nursing, BNS, and bachelor-level midwifery education. The postgraduate WHD specialty therefore sits within a wider academic area devoted to women's, maternal, and midwifery education.
This multidisciplinary setting is relevant to WHD students because women's health can involve clinical care, health education, family communication, reproductive health, maternal services, and community health.
Clinical and practical education at Maharajgunj Nursing Campus is supported through hospital, specialty-care, and community settings.
Clinical-practice fields associated with the campus include Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Paropakar Maternity & Women's Hospital, and other healthcare institutions covering specialized areas of care.
For WHD students, maternal and women's health settings provide an appropriate context for linking advanced specialty nursing theory with clinical practice.
The exact clinical placement, rotation, and practice schedule can differ according to the academic requirements and institutional arrangements applicable to a particular group of students. Previous practice sites should therefore not be interpreted as guaranteed placements for every academic intake.
Research is a major component of the Master in Nursing program.
First-year students study Nursing Research and Epidemiology & Statistics. These courses provide the basis for understanding research methods, health data, evidence, and systematic academic investigation.
Second-year study includes Thesis Writing and Viva Voce.
This arrangement creates a progression from learning research principles to conducting postgraduate academic work. Research training can be applied to nursing questions connected with women's health, maternal care, neonatal health, nursing practice, education, service delivery, and related areas.
The WHD/Midwifery academic environment also includes research activity related to maternal health and nursing practice. This complements the formal research and thesis requirements of the master's program.
Educational Science forms part of the first-year Master in Nursing curriculum.
This subject is relevant because postgraduate nurses may take responsibilities connected with teaching, supervision, patient education, clinical instruction, and professional learning.
Within WHD, educational preparation can support communication and teaching related to women's health, maternal care, reproductive health, clinical nursing, and professional nursing education.
The subject therefore adds an educational dimension to a program that otherwise combines specialty nursing, clinical practice, research, and management.
Health Service Management is another first-year component.
Women's and maternal healthcare is delivered through organized health services rather than isolated clinical encounters. Postgraduate nursing education therefore includes the management dimension of healthcare alongside specialty nursing.
The subject introduces students to areas connected with service organization, nursing management, coordination, and healthcare administration.
Together, Educational Science and Health Service Management broaden WHD beyond specialty clinical knowledge and prepare students academically for responsibilities that may involve teaching or management as well as nursing practice.
WHD students study within the wider academic environment of Maharajgunj Nursing Campus.
Relevant learning resources include:
The simulation facility is particularly relevant to the WHD/Midwifery academic area because practical preparation is an important component of maternal and neonatal health education.
The campus library also supports postgraduate study and thesis preparation through nursing and health-science references and electronic academic resources.
WHD/Maternal Health Nursing is treated as a distinct postgraduate specialty in the Master in Nursing admission structure.
Seat numbers should not be treated as permanently fixed. The Medical Education Commission determines medical education seats through the applicable admission-cycle process, and the number allocated to a specialty may vary.
The same principle applies to:
Students should follow the MEC provisions applicable to the relevant MECEE-PG admission cycle rather than relying on seat or fee figures from an earlier intake.
Candidates enter the WHD program with an existing nursing qualification and the required professional registration.
The Nepal Nursing Council is the professional regulatory body associated with nursing education standards, licensing, and registration.
Completion of Masters in Women Health & Development provides a postgraduate academic qualification. Professional nursing practice remains subject to the licensing, registration, and regulatory requirements applicable to the concerned nursing role.
The master's degree therefore adds postgraduate specialty preparation but does not replace the professional regulatory requirements governing nursing practice.
Masters in Women Health & Development provides advanced study in a specialty connected with women's, maternal, and related nursing care.
Depending on professional registration, experience, and position-specific requirements, graduates may pursue responsibilities in areas such as:
The program also provides master's-level academic preparation for further nursing study where the relevant doctoral eligibility requirements are met.
Its two-year structure combines Women Health & Development I and II with practical learning, Nursing Research, Epidemiology & Statistics, Educational Science, Health Service Management, thesis writing, and viva voce. This combination gives the program both a specialty nursing focus and a wider postgraduate academic foundation.