B.Sc. (Nursing)

B.Sc. (Nursing) is the four-year professional degree in nursing. INC's regulations say it prepares graduates to practise nursing and midwifery in government or private healthcare. Unlike a general B.Sc., it has its own council: INC sets the syllabus, attendance rules and pass marks, and the degree leads to registration as a nurse and midwife.^[1]

The Indian Nursing Council is a statutory body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Its B.Sc. (Nursing) regulations were published in the Gazette of India on 5 July 2021 and amended by a corrigendum in April 2022. They set who can be admitted, the syllabus, attendance and pass marks, and the university that awards the degree has to follow them.

Every college that runs the course must have its own parent hospital of at least 100 beds. A college can admit up to 60 students a year with a 100-bed hospital, and 61 to 100 if its hospital has 300 or more beds. INC publishes a list of nursing institutions for each academic year; the current one covers 2025-26 and 2026-27.^[1]

Colleges admit students once a year, on the merit of an entrance test run by a university or the state government. INC's rules give the test five parts of 20 marks each: aptitude for nursing, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English. Since the 2022 corrigendum, you qualify at the 50th percentile if you are General, the 40th if you are SC, ST or OBC, and the 45th if you are General with a disability. For 2026-27 only, Notification 23 of 2026 lets states lower the qualifying percentile to fill vacant seats, for candidates who sat that year's entrance test.

For 2026-27, INC's Notification 6 of 2026 asked for the entrance test before 15 June, a session start on 1 August and admissions closed by 30 September. Notification 19 of 2026 moved the last date to 31 October 2026, and Notification 21 of 2026 (30 October) moved it to 15 November 2026 and ruled out any further extension. Students admitted from 1 to 15 November form a separate batch and sit their exams separately from those admitted by 31 October. Colour-blind candidates are eligible if they wear corrective lenses or spectacles, and married candidates are eligible too.

INC reserves 5% of seats for candidates with a loco-motor disability of 40% to 50% of the lower extremity, and raises their upper age limit by 5 years. Other reservations follow the rules of the central or state government that applies to the college.^[1]

Semesters one to seven run 20 weeks each, at 40 hours a week. Theory, skill lab and clinical work run side by side from the first semester. One theory credit is one hour a week, one skill-lab credit is two hours and one clinical credit is four hours on a ward. Across those seven semesters you spend 1,800 hours on theory, 600 in the skill lab and 2,880 in clinical areas. The eighth semester is the internship: 22 weeks at 48 hours a week in community health, adult health, child health, mental health and midwifery.

You need 80% attendance in the theory and the practical of each course to sit its exam, and 100% attendance in each clinical area before you get the degree. The pass mark is 50% in each theory paper and each practical paper, counted separately; English and the elective modules need 40%. If you fail either the theory or the practical of a subject, you sit both again.

Since January 2026 you can keep attending classes up to the 8th semester with backlog papers, but you must clear every earlier exam before you sit the final semester exam. The whole course has to be finished within 8 years.^[1]

After the degree you register as a nurse and midwife with the State Nurses and Midwives Registration Council of your state. INC's regulations make continuing nursing education compulsory for renewing that registration every five years.

For further study, INC lists M.Sc. (Nursing), a two-year degree, along with post basic diplomas, nurse practitioner programmes and a Ph.D. in nursing. Government nursing posts are filled through recruitment notices; read each one for the qualification and registration it asks for.^[1]

After the degree you register with your state's nurses and midwives registration council, and you renew that registration every five years with continuing nursing education.

INC recognises M.Sc. (Nursing), a two-year degree, along with post basic diplomas, nurse practitioner programmes and a Ph.D. in nursing. Government posts for nurses are filled through recruitment notices; we don't show pay figures until we can cite a current notice.^[1]