UC Systems Leadership: three 168-hour practicums and a preceptor one level above you

How the Systems Leadership track runs

Systems Leadership is UC's nursing administration track, taught online with in-person precepted practice. The MSN is 36 to 40 credits over two years in six semesters. The DNP version runs 75 credits, three of them electives, on the three-year DNP plan. Both start in fall only. For Fall 2027 the MSN application opens November 1, 2026 and closes July 1, 2027, the DNP deadline is June 1, 2027, and classes begin August 23, 2027.

Applicants need an unrestricted RN license plus a year of US nursing experience. The coursework around the practicums covers strategic leadership and management, human resources, leadership in healthcare systems and healthcare economics. In the MSN, ANNA8004 Systems Leadership in Healthcare comes in the third semester, just before the first practicum, so the search for a preceptor belongs in your first year.

Three practicums, 504 hours

Each practicum carries 168 hours, and the three run in consecutive semesters, 4 through 6, in both the MSN and the DNP plan. UC's requirement document names hospitals, long-term care, clinics, surgery centers and healthcare businesses as settings, so the search can reach well beyond hospitals.

The 504 figure is the sum of the three course numbers. UC's liability coverage runs only inside semester dates, so hours logged between terms don't count. The rule that NP students spend 20% of their hours with a certified NP, and UC's list of states where physician assistants may precept, belong to the nurse practitioner and midwifery tracks, not this one.

Who can precept a nurse leader at UC

UC's Systems Leadership requirements and its May 2026 Preceptor Guide set two tests. The first is education: an MSN, or a BSN combined with a master's in a related field such as business administration (MBA) or health administration (MHA). The second is rank: the preceptor has to sit one or more administrative levels higher than you.

In practice that points you toward managers, directors, administrators and executives rather than peers. If you work as a staff nurse, a unit manager with the right degree may qualify. If you already manage a unit, you'll be looking at directors and above, in your own organization or another one.

UC also lets one preceptor cover all three practicums, unlike several NP tracks that require a change of preceptor between terms. The rules that bind every UC student still hold: no relatives, and no hours at a site without an affiliation agreement. The preceptor requirements page lists the college-wide rules.

Where the leadership search gets hard

A 168-hour practicum in one term is a sizable commitment for someone running a department. Ask early, and be specific about the projects or meetings you hope to join, so the leader can judge the time involved.

Your own employer is the obvious place to look, but UC's Systems Leadership document doesn't address employer sites. The Preceptor Guide's general rule says students can't train in the clinic or unit that employs them unless their track permits it and the program director approves. Before you ask anyone in your reporting line, check with your Clinical Site Coordinator whether another department in your organization would work.

Large systems add paperwork. A hospital that wants its own contract in place of UC's standard Educational Affiliation Agreement triggers legal review on both sides, which UC warns can run past six months; UC's own agreement takes six weeks or more. Some systems, including Cleveland Clinic and Norton, are on UC's list of places to raise with your CSC before any outreach. The affiliation agreement page explains the difference.

DNP students: leadership practicums plus the project

In the Systems Leadership DNP, the three ANNA practicums fall in semesters 4 to 6, and the DNP practicum courses, NDNP9025, NDNP9035 and NDNP9038, add 500 hours of project work. Together that is 1,004 hours, a total UC doesn't print itself.

The project is overseen by a chair from UC and a second UC doctoral faculty member or more, and UC says students' workplaces often suit the project. A leadership preceptor and a project setting can sit in the same organization, but they serve different courses, so plan them separately and ask your chair and CSC how they interact. The DNP project page has more.

State rules differ by degree. In Washington, UC may run MSN clinicals and Nursing Administration appears on the state commission's approval list, yet DNP programs aren't authorized there. Seven more states are closed to UC graduate clinicals at either level; the state authorization page names them.

Timing your ask

A leadership placement goes through the same UC process as an NP placement, so the same dates govern it.

1. Name two or three candidatesLook for leaders with the right degree who sit above your level, inside or outside your organization, and settle the employer question with your CSC.
2. Propose a scopeTell each leader roughly how the 168 hours would spread across the term and what you hope to work on, then ask for a clear yes.
3. File the Preceptor ApplicationComplete the student section first. For a fall practicum the packet is due on the last Friday of May; for spring, the first Friday of October; for summer, the first Friday of February.
4. Name the site's contactMake sure the application lists the organization's administrative contact so UC's agreement can go out promptly.
5. Confirm by week 2UC treats the end of week 2 as the point by which the site must be secured; past that, the safe move is withdrawing by the drop date.

Why Systems Leadership students choose us: we look for a qualified leader and an organization near you willing to host a UC student for a full 168-hour term, help you put a scope in front of that leader, and pull together what your CSC checks, from the preceptor's degree and license to the site's administrative contact. UC decides on each leader, organization and agreement, and it gets a file with nothing missing.