Is nursing for you?

The Bachelor of Nursing degree program will educate you in nursing therapeutics, foundations of nursing and human bioscience. Read more ...

Who you'll be learning from

The teaching team is led by award winning academics who are all specialists in their fields of practice. Read more ...

What you will study

Over the program, you will experience approximately 800 hours in clinical settings. Read more ...

A degree that's in demand - our graduates get jobs

A Bachelor of Nursing degree from the University of Newcastle makes you highly employable, 97.6 per cent* of our nursing graduates are employed within four months of finishing their degree. Read more ...

Is nursing for you?

The Bachelor of Nursing will educate you in nursing management, foundations of nursing and human bioscience. This degree offers significant hands-on opportunities to develop your skills to a work-ready level. As a nurse, you can fulfill diverse roles such as direct caregivers, educators, researchers, managers and consultants. Nursing is suited to someone who is flexible, hard-working and wants to make a difference in people's lives.

To help you achieve this you will learn how to ‘clinically’ reason. This is a process where you collect and process information to be able to make the best possible clinical decisions and then reflect on the outcomes of those decisions. Equipping you with these skills will assist you to achieve the best outcomes for those you care for.

Improving patient outcomes and models of care

At the University of Newcastle there are over 1,900 students enrolled in the nursing degree across three campuses.

This represents an increase of 70 per cent over the last three years and makes our program one of the largest in Australia. It’s not just the size of the school that makes it exceptional but the quality of teaching.

My particular passion and what drives me is that teaching in professional programs such as nursing has a higher calling,” explains Tracy Levett-Jones, Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School (Teaching and Learning). “In nursing we are not teaching simply to impart knowledge but to improve patient outcomes.”

We are also improving patient outcomes through investigating the optimal way care is delivered in mental health, nursing in general practice, and the care of older people, specifically in the areas of dementia and delirium.

A great career for men

Nursing is a great career for men. Approximately ten percent of nursing students are male, and they bring a different approach into the caring environment.

Who you'll be learning from

The teaching team is led by award winning academics who are all specialists in their fields of practice. The team includes highly qualified academics from broad and diverse clinical, research and management backgrounds from the acute, community, mental health, midwifery and aged care sectors as well as representation across the majority of nursing specialities. Several members of our team have authored nursing textbooks and are editors or members of editorial boards of leading nursing journals placing them on the cutting edge of nursing research and practice.

We also employ senior clinical staff from local health care facilities to support students in our clinical laboratories and teach students on clinical placements. This ensures that our students are well supported, and learning in an environment that is aligned with current best practice.

Our team prides themselves on being approachable, supportive and sensitive to the needs of those studying in our degree. What you will benefit most from is the passion that they bring to nursing and making a difference in people’s lives.

Practical know-how and personal skills

At the University of Newcastle our teaching encourages you to question and challenge ways of thinking in order to expand your knowledge base. We aim to help you build a better understanding of the patients experience and the difference you can make to patient health and well-being.

What you will study

Over the degree, you will experience approximately 800 hours in clinical settings in community centres, aged care facilities, mental health settings and major teaching hospitals throughout the Hunter, Central Coast, North Coast and The University Department of Rural Health (UDRH) sites. You will cover courses including nursing therapeutics, foundations of nursing and human bioscience.

Clinical experience is undertaken initially in the laboratories on-campus and then in health care settings off-campus. Students are well prepared clinically and academically for rewarding careers in a wide variety of health settings.

State-of-the-art facilities

The School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Newcastle has a simulation unit and ten clinical skills laboratories that look and feel just like hospital wards – six at the Newcastle campus, two at the Central Coast campus and two at the Port Macquarie campus.

Nurses face a dynamic and constantly changing technical environment. These laboratories create a realistic environment for the development of clinical skills before you go out and work with real patients in clinical settings. The School incorporates innovative teaching and learning methods into its undergraduate degree including the use of high fidelity human patient simulation manikins.

A degree that's in demand - our graduates get jobs

A Bachelor of Nursing degree from the University of Newcastle makes you highly employable, 97.6 per cent* of our nursing graduates are employed within four months of finishing their degree. The employment market for nurses is strong in New South Wales, Australia and overseas. Our degrees are based on a solid foundation of knowledge and clinical competence, which means our graduates are in great demand by employers.

* Australian Graduate Survey 2008

A degree that takes you places

Our graduates enjoy a wide choice of nursing careers: from hospitals to prisons, coal mines and working in developing countries with the World Health Organisation and other non-government aid organisations.

In hospitals: Many of our graduates are employed in hospitals in New South Wales and other states – from accident and emergency, medical surgical wards, operating theatre and intensive care to paediatrics.

Caring in the community: As a nurse you can work in the areas of community health, rural and remote health, Indigenous nursing, aged care and mental health.

Graduates are eligible to apply for registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia is the statutory body responsible for establishing registration standards for the midwifery profession.

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