The Nursing Council and the two nursing schools offering bridging nursing degrees to protesting Indian nurses agree to disagree over claims of changing “goal posts” for registration.
More than 100 Indian-trained nurses converged on parliament this week to protest at New Zealand registration rules, including nurses linked to two bridging degree courses currently being investigated by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).
Waiariki Institute of Technology and UCOL nursing schools are both offering one year programmes to international registered nurses wanting to upgrade to a Bachelor of Nursing degree.
Concerns raised by students and graduates of the programmes about discovering after arriving in New Zealand that their qualifications may not meet Nursing Council registration requirements has prompted the NZQA review currently underway.
Both nursing schools argue that the Nursing Council changed the goal posts for their overseas nursing students in 2012, but only Waiariki is arguing that the bridging degree should be recognised as a pathway to registration.
Clare Prendergast, Nursing Council acting chief executive, said neither bridging programme is an approved pathway to registration and neither school has sought accreditation from Council for these specific bridging programmes.
She also points out that all overseas-qualified nurses are advised by Council to not come to New Zealand until they have been accepted for registration and offered a place on a competence assessment programme.
“We have every sympathy for nurses who are in New Zealand and have not been registered, but we are of the view that we have done all we can to ensure that they are not put in this position.
Paul McElroy, UCOL chief executive, said it was made clear to UCOL students that their RN to BN programme was not a pathway to registration but to a nursing degree.
He argues that the Nursing Council has unfairly changed the goal posts since the students arrived by changing how it assesses overseas qualifications, including some Indian diplomas of nursing.
Prendergast said the Nursing Council asked NZQA to formally assess an Indian nursing diploma in November, and it was found to be at NZQA level 5 rather than at the level 7 (degree level) required by the Council.
She said it had not changed the Council process of assessing educational equivalency, which included looking individually at each applicant’s initial qualification, their clinical experience record, and their subsequent study. Prendergast added that the current consultation document on tightening up registration for internationally qualified nurses was a separate issue, and it had to go through a full consultation process before any resulting change was announced and gazetted.
John Snook, Waiariki deputy chief executive, said it has “hundreds of students” affected, mostly from India, but also some nursing students from China and Nepal.
He said its overseas trained nurse have received recognition of prior learning for their previous qualification and clinical experience and they qualify with Waiariki’s BN degree, which is accredited and approved by the Nursing Council.
Snook said these graduates only started having their qualifications not recognised by Nursing Council in January 2012 when the Council “without consultation” no longer accepted the BN degree from its overseas nurse graduates and “instead went back to their initial qualifications”.
Carolyn Reed, Nursing Council chief executive, speaking to Nursing Review immediately on her return to New Zealand, said she was “disappointed” by Waiariki’s response.
She said nurse educators had been told they could not give recognition of prior learning for clinical practice in year three of the BN degree and the theory-based Waiariki bridging programme did not meet that standard.
“So they were well aware of that,” she said.
Reed said while the degree may have the same title as the other Waiariki BN degree, it did not meet the clinical practice requirements for registration purposes.
NZQA met with affected graduates and students at forums held at both campuses this week and NZQA reviewers were understood to be at UCOL today.
Statistics provided by the Nursing Council show that it has registered more than 1000 Indian-qualified nurses in the past three years. The level of success by Indian nurses seeking registration has fluctuated from 51 per cent in 2009-2010 to 84 per cent in 2010-2011 and back down to 69 per cent in the 12 months to March 31 2012. The number of applicants had also fluctuated from a high of 625 in 2010 to 512 in the previous year.
