Bachelor of Nursing

Newcastle was one of the first Australian universities to move nursing education fully into the tertiary sector back in the 1970s hospital-training-to-degree transition, and the School of Nursing and Midwifery still trades on that history: it's consistently ranked among the top nursing schools in the country, and sends students into clinical placement blocks from first year rather than holding placements back to the later years the way some competitor programs do.

Clinical placement hours (a minimum of 800, in line with NMBA requirements) are spread across the Hunter New England Local Health District, which is one of the largest health networks in NSW and gives students exposure to everything from John Hunter Hospital's tertiary trauma unit to small rural placements further out in the Hunter Valley and New England region. It's a genuine mix of urban and rural nursing experience that's harder to get in a Sydney-based program competing for the same city hospital placement spots as five other universities.

The degree can be taken at Callaghan, at the Central Coast (Ourimbah) campus, or partly online for the theory components, and there's a well-worn pathway from here into UON's postgraduate nurse practitioner and midwifery programs for graduates who want to specialise later.