Indian students of the two bridging nursing degree programmes at the centre of an investigation are now being offered pathways to registration.
Graduates and students of the two programmes had been amongst Indian nurses who marched on parliament two months ago about their educational qualifications not being recognised for registration by the Nursing Council of New Zealand.
The Nursing Council had argued that neither programmes were recognised by Council as pathways to registration but the nursing schools and students had counter-argued that the Council had changed the goalposts in how they viewed the three-year Indian nursing diploma since the students came to New Zealand.
The resulting New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) report into Waiariki Institute of Technology and UCOL’s process for admitting Indian registered nurses (RNs) into its “RN to BN (bachelor of nursing)” programme is still to be released. Both institutions have stopped offering the programme to international students.
Meanwhile, the Nursing Council of New Zealand and NZQA have been meeting with some of the hundreds of affected Waiariki Institute of Technology and UCOL nursing school students and graduates to outline pathways to gaining educational equivalency.
Tim Fowler, NZQA deputy chief executive, said students offered the “fair, clear, and transparent pathway” to meeting education equivalency requirements were very happy with the solutions offered.
Graduates and students of the UCOL programme are being offered at no further cost a two-day professional diagnostic assessment (PDA) at the end of the programme, and on passing, they will have gained Nursing Council educational equivalency. Students are also being offered free fees if they wish to transfer to the three year BN degree programme, most likely entering the second year, and gain registration by sitting state finals.
Current Waiariki students will complete a new nursing assessment and clinical reasoning paper, while graduates will be offered a three week simulated clinical assessment block course.
UCOL has had 270 international graduates and students of its RN to BN programme since 2010. Waiariki has had 407 students through its programme since 2007 and currently has 122 students. To date, it is not known how many of the graduates have had their applications for educational equivalency declined or accepted,
Graduates who pass these new pathway “solutions” must still meet all other Nursing Council criteria for registration, including verifying documentation, English language testing, completing a competency assessment programme (CAP), and being deemed fit for registration.
