Students wanting to study nursing at the University of New England now have more options. From this year, students studying a Bachelor of Nursing degree at UNE will be able to obtain an Advanced Diploma and become an Enrolled Nurse after the first two years of the course. In addition, those who are already Endorsed Enrolled Nurses can enter straight into the beginning of second year and study for 2 years to become a Registered Nurse.

The course will also have more blended learning in second and third years. Students will have the chance to study entirely on campus or to instead learn mainly on-line, and attend a number of short intensive schools and clinical practice blocks each semester.

‘The new changes mean the degree is more flexible and better suited to students who don’t want to relocate to Armidale or who can’t afford not to work’ said Dr Penny Paliadelis, Senior Lecturer and Course Coordinator for Nursing at UNE’s School of Health.‘We now have multiple entry and exit points for our students. After two years of the course, students will be allowed to leave with an Advanced Diploma and become Enrolled Nurses or they can choose to stay for the full three years and become Registered Nurses’ Dr Paliadelis added.

Armidale’s Todd Naylor has wanted to become a nurse since leaving school more than a decade ago. ‘With a young family to think of, my wife and I needed financial stability and were never really in a position to live off only one wage in order for me to study’ he said. ‘However we were drawn to the course’s increased flexibility and the fact I can study part time and on-line’ he said.

UNE is also leading the way with its new entry criteria. ‘Those who don’t meet the usual entry standards, but feel they have the capacity to become nurses, can enter UNE’s nursing course via interview’ explained Dr Paliadelis. ‘Students new to UNE need to make an initial application to UAC and fill in the request form to book in for the final round of panel interviews to be held on the 22^nd of January in the School of Health’.

‘I was accepted into the course via interview’ said Mr Naylor. ‘I think it is a great way of finding students who are passionate about nursing. I don’t think people who are perhaps lacking in dedication to their study, would really put themselves through the rigorous task of sitting in front of a panel’ he said. 

‘I am really excited about beginning my nursing degree. I have wanted to do this for a long time and I now just want to achieve a really good result and have a happy balance between work, study and family’ Mr Naylor added. 

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here expands to show Todd Naylor and Dr Penny Paliadelis in UNE’s simulation lab in the School of Health.

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