Portfolio guidance for MN nursing degrees

As part of your application, you'll submit a portfolio to critically demonstrate your relevant health and/or care experience and share how this has prepared you for either MN Adult Nursing or MN Mental Health Nursing.

Developing a portfolio of practice evidence and being a reflective practitioner are essential skills that all nurses require. You'll continue to practice these skills throughout your career in the nursing profession.

We encourage you to experience a wide range of clinical or care settings before you start the course.

Not only will these experiences provide you with the chance to be exposed to a range of health or care needs; your experiences should also give you the opportunity to support people in different ways. These experiences don't have to be based within the field of nursing you have chosen to study; nursing is about people and there are a range of things that you can be involved in that will count toward your clinical hours, but the experience must be in a directly patient or client facing role.

Ready to get started?

Download portfolio template  

If you have questions on how to complete the portfolio or whether your evidence fits our admissions criteria, you can contact the course team. 

What should I include in my portfolio?

You must show evidence of:

• Relevant practice experience within the last 5 years (equivalent to 800 hours)
• Relevant theory learning within the last 5 years (equivalent to 650 hours)

What counts as evidence?

Your evidence should show what you have learned during your undergraduate degree and other professional learning

You'll use the portfolio to highlight how your prior experience meets the NMC (2018) Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses set out in the portfolio, and the certificates and other records that back this up.

For example, when we ask you about your relevant communication and relationship management skills you could:

• Refer to written or verbal assignments or student activities from your undergraduate degree
• Refer to transcripts of any relevant degree modules
• Critically discuss how you have applied and developed your communication skills in a care environment
• Critically reflect on how your communication and relationship management skills have been developed further during your practical work experience
• Critically reflect on your learning for your Care Certificate, and how this has prepared you for your role
• Critically reflect on any relevant eLearning courses (e.g. eLearning for Health) you have undertaken and how they have supported you in your role

You’ll also provide a reference to confirm that you have the requisite relevant practice experience.

How do I structure my portfolio?

The portfolio is made up of two sections. The first section focuses on your work experience, and the second on demonstrating how both your practice experience and prior theory learning aligns with the NMC (2018) Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses.

Full guidance for each section of the portfolio is available in the portfolio template, including some examples of the type of narrative you are expected to provide within each section.

You portfolio should:

1. Produce a narrative

   Your narrative should outline how your prior experience will support your development as a future Registered Nurse. Therefore, it is important that you discuss how your skills and knowledge apply to the role of the Registered Nurse throughout the portfolio.

2. Provide an appendix of certificates and transcripts

   You should include certificates or transcripts for any courses, training or eLearning you have undertaken, and evidence them in an appendix at the end of the portfolio.

   For example, if you have referred to the Care Certificate or previous learning in your responses, you should include a copy of the certificate for the learning or transcript of the modules studied.

3. Highlight how your learning aligns with the NMC (2018) Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses

   There are several elements for you to complete based around the Platforms within the Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses.

   We recommend that you review to the standards as you write your portfolio, to help you think about the type of things you can include.

4. Use an academic style

   • Your portfolio should be presented in an academic writing style — it should be formal, objective, and succinct.
   • Include references to the academic literature (where relevant) to support your ideas. Your referencing skills would have been honed during your undergraduate studies. See referencing guidance.
   • Use a reflective writing style to analyse your past experience and reflect on what happened, why, and if you would do anything differently in future. You’ll consider your strengths, weaknesses, anxieties and errors and constructively review what you are writing about.

Submitting your portfolio

Once you have completed the portfolio and added your evidence, you'll upload the document to the Application System. If the file is too large to upload, then you can submit the portfolio and certificates or records of learning as separate files.

You'll submit the portfolio when you apply for either course. We'll review your portfolio before inviting you to interview. When the portfolio is due depends on when you're applying:

How we'll assess your portfolio

We'll assess your portfolio against the following criteria:

• 800 hours of care related experience
• 650 hours of relevant theoretical learning based on previous study and/or training
• A completed range of evidence including certificated learning 
• Critical reflection and academic style of writing within the portfolio
• Alignment with the NMC professional values expected of future and current Registered Nurses (The Code; NMC 2018) 
• Supported by a reference from a Registered Nurse or line manager of the most recent employment

If the person providing your reference is not a UK-based Registered Nurse, your portfolio will be reviewed by a Practice Supervisor to confirm that you have evidenced that you have completed a minimum of 800 hours of relevant practice experience.

What happens next?

Applicants with a satisfactory portfolio will be invited to a short online interview with a member of the course team. You must attend an interview to receive an offer.

The interview further assesses your suitability for the intended course, and it's an opportunity to ask the course team any questions you may have about studying at the University of Portsmouth and the MN course. 

Applicants with a successful portfolio and interview will have an offer made to them to join the course, subject to any UKVI, satisfactory occupational health, DBS, and fitness to practice checks.

If your application is successful, your portfolio will be retained at the university according to our current assessment retention guidelines as it forms part of the evidence you have for meeting the NMC requirements of joining the nursing register.

A sample of admissions portfolios will be reviewed by our Award External Examiner. This is one of our quality assurance processes at the university, ensuring that our admissions practices are fair and robust.