UTA's MSN in Nursing Administration: planning the practicum hours
UTA's MSN in Nursing Administration is a 36-credit online program of 12 courses taken in a fixed order, with a fastest finish of 19 to 22 months. Four of those courses carry practicum hours, 270 in all by our count, done in healthcare facilities where senior nurse administrators work.
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How the program runs
UTA's MSN handbook lists Nursing Administration as a program taught only in the accelerated online format, even though its catalog page carries a generic line about classroom options. The degree is 36 credits spread over 12 courses, each lasting 5 to 10 weeks.
UTA's online page is firm about order: students must follow the exact sequence of courses. The fastest route to graduation takes 19 to 22 months. Coursework happens entirely online; the practicum hours are the part you complete in person, inside a healthcare organization.
The 2026-27 online MSN calendar opens with an August 17, 2026 start, runs through a June 14, 2027 start, and continues into fall 2027. The online clinical schedule lists every start date and application deadline.
The four courses with practicum hours
UTA's online Administration page attaches hours to four courses. No program total appears on any UTA page; 270 is simply the sum of the four.
| Course | Online length | Hours UTA lists |
|---|---|---|
NURS 5339 Roles and Functions of the Nurse Administrator | 5 weeks; 10 per the RN-to-MSN page | 90 clinical application hours |
NURS 5340 Management Seminar and Practice | 10 weeks | 90 hours plus a capstone community partnering project; details in the NURS 5340 guide |
NURS 5341 Financial Management in Nursing | 5 weeks; 10 per the RN-to-MSN page | 45 clinical application hours |
NURS 5342 Management of Nursing Operations | 5 weeks | 45 clinical application hours |
Clinical hours by track sets these next to the nurse practitioner, Education and DNP requirements, including which figures come from current UTA pages.
What the course lengths mean week to week
Spread across UTA's published course lengths, the hours are not evenly weighted (our arithmetic). NURS 5339 asks for 90 hours in 5 weeks, about 18 hours a week. NURS 5341 and NURS 5342 each come to about 9 a week, and NURS 5340, with 90 hours over 10 weeks, also averages about 9.
If the 10-week length on UTA's RN-to-MSN page applies to your section of NURS 5339, that course drops to about 9 hours a week as well. The two UTA pages disagree, so check your section dates as soon as you can see them.
Either way, NURS 5339 deserves the most planning. For a nurse holding down a job, 18 hours a week at a facility for five weeks is a real commitment, and it takes a nurse leader willing to host you that intensively. Someone who can offer one day a week will not cover it.
Who you need: senior nurse leaders
UTA's online page places the practicum in healthcare facilities that have administrative senior nurses on site, and says UTA faculty guide, coach and mentor you through the assignments. The site therefore has to give you real access to nurses who run departments or organizations, not only to bedside staff.
Whether each course needs a formal preceptor is less clear. UTA's MSN page calls the NURS 5340 hours logged while the RN-to-MSN page calls them preceptored, and UTA's current preceptor page has no entry for Nursing Administration. The NURS 5340 guide covers what an older UTA syllabus said about preceptor qualifications.
Your own employer is possible but not preferred. UTA's RN-to-MSN page states a preference, for NURS 5339, for a practicum site away from where you work; clinical hours at your employer explains UTA's general limits.
For NURS 5339, UTA prefers a location other than your workplace. Treat your own organization as the fallback, not the plan.
Admission and readiness for the practicum
Among the catalog's criteria for unconditional admission are CPR certification and two years' clinical practice as an RN. Short of two years? UTA's online page says such applicants may be granted provisional admission, so the gap does not have to stop you applying.
Clearance is an open question for this track. UTA's clearance policy lists MSN Education, nurse practitioner and DNP students among those it covers, and Administration is missing from that list. Clinical agencies can set conditions of their own, though, so leave time for a facility's onboarding even if UTA's policy turns out not to apply to you. Ask your advisor early.
UTA's graduate catalog also requires students in clinical courses to show medical insurance that covers needle-stick and bloodborne-exposure care. Check whether your practicum courses count as clinical courses for that rule before your first one begins.
Where the program is open
Five states are left off UTA's map for this MSN: New York, Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The other 45 states and DC are listed, and UTA uses the mailing address in your MyMav account to place you in a state.
UTA's state-authorization page says the Nursing Administration MSN does not lead to licensure, so the map governs where UTA can enroll you rather than any license you earn at the end. It still matters mid-program, because a move can take you out of an eligible state.
Before you look for a nurse leader in another state, take a travel assignment or relocate, email NursingSOA@uta.edu. Out-of-state clinicals explains how UTA handles each of those situations.
What UTA does not publish
Several details that shape your practicum plan do not appear anywhere public. Put each one to your course faculty before the relevant course opens.
- A program total for practicum hours. The 270 is our sum of the four course figures.
- Current preceptor qualifications for this track. The only explicit rule is in a 2015 syllabus.
- Whether the Graduate Nursing Clinical Clearance Requirements policy applies to Administration students.
- Whether the
NURS 5340hours are logged or precepted, since two UTA pages word it differently. - How long
NURS 5339andNURS 5341run: 5 weeks on the MSN page, 10 on the RN-to-MSN page. - Whether one facility and one leader may host you for more than one of the four courses.
Where our help fits
UTA asks graduate students to locate placements that fit their program, and its Department of Graduate Nursing steps in to assist students who run into difficulty. In Administration, what you are searching for is access to senior nurse leaders, often at an organization other than your employer.
A placement advisor can map the four practicum courses against your start date, identify facilities near you where nursing directors or chief nursing officers might host a student, and approach them ahead of time, with extra lead time for the heavy NURS 5339 block. We help you gather the leader's details for UTA's review and stay available if someone pulls out. UTA and your faculty approve every site; we promise neither approval nor timing. Use the form below, or reach the placement desk with your start date.
Questions UTA students ask
Is there a shorter Nursing Administration option than the MSN?
Yes. UTA's post-baccalaureate certificate in Nursing Administration is 12 credits and includes NURS 5339, with 90 hours of clinical application, and NURS 5341, with 45. Nurses who already hold an MSN can look instead at the post-master's certificate, which UTA builds from a gap analysis of each student's transcript and experience.
Can I take the Administration courses in a different order?
No. UTA's online page says students must follow the exact sequence of courses. That cuts both ways: you cannot move a practicum course to a quieter month, but once you know your start date you can see well in advance which session each practicum course falls in, and plan your site and leader around it.
Does UTA still offer an MSN/MBA in nursing administration?
Not in the current catalog. UTA's 2014-2015 catalog listed an MSN Administration/MBA at 57 credit hours and an MSN/MS in Health Care Administration, but the 2026-27 graduate nursing program list has no dual or joint degrees. If a dual degree matters to you, ask UTA admissions whether any arrangement exists before you apply.
Can I move on to UTA's DNP after the Administration MSN?
UTA's catalog names nurses with an MSN in Administration among eligible DNP applicants, alongside APRNs. Keep a record of your practicum hours as you go: UTA asks non-APRN applicants for a letter verifying their MSN clinical hours and credits up to 500 of them. The DNP program page explains what the doctorate then asks of you.
Do I need a Texas license for the Administration practicum?
UTA publishes no Texas-license requirement for this program. Its graduate catalog asks for an unencumbered RN license for clinical courses, and the MSN handbook requires a license valid wherever you complete clinical work. A compact license may cover other compact states; otherwise you obtain that state's license at your own cost.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against UTA's own sources. UTA's current handbook and your course faculty have the final word.
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