(Cedar Rapids, Iowa) – A new partnership between Kirkwood Community College and the University of Iowa will allow students to use programs at both institutions to earn their degree in medical laboratory science. The Iowa Capital Dispatch says the four-year degree program will launch this fall, according to a news release, and will be available to students starting their education at either college.

Kirkwood students will spend two years in the community college’s medical laboratory technology program before transferring to the UI for the remainder of the program. UI students will enter into the medical laboratory technology program, housed at the Kirkwood Regional Center at the UI Coralville campus, after finishing two years at the university.

No matter where they started, all students in the program will participate in clinical rotations in different lab departments at the UI or other affiliated hospital labs, according to the UI’s medical laboratory science program website. Upon completion, graduates will receive their medical laboratory science degree from the UI Carver College of Medicine and be eligible to take the medical laboratory science certification exam, the news release stated.

Kirkwood Community College and the University of Iowa are partnering to offer a new medical laboratory sciences degree for students. (Photo courtesy of Kirkwood Community College)

Once they’ve graduated out of the program, students will have the skills to work in various lab departments, according to the release, including immunology, clinical chemistry and clinical microbiology, among other areas.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 24,000 job openings for medical laboratory scientists are expected to come from a predicted 5% increase in demand.