International nursing students have accused Deakin University and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) of misleading them and bungling course registration after introducing new English language standards for the nursing profession.
Thirty Chinese students say the ruling puts their visas at risk, instilling fear they could be deported at the end of the month. The students were enrolled into the Bachelor of Nursing at the Burwood campus and were granted advanced standing due to their previous nursing experience and academic study.
The new national nursing registration standards, introduced by AHPRA on July 1, state all nursing applicants must be able to prove they have an IELTS (International English Language Testing System) standard of seven points out of the nine — in speaking, listening, reading and writing — or can demonstrate they were taught English throughout their secondary schooling.
AHPRA is the peak national body setting the registration and accreditation process for the 10 health professions, including the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). Before the NMBA was established, English language standards were set by individual state boards, such as the Nurses Board of Victoria, and international students required an IELTS score of 6.5 to become registered.
The students claim the university knew as early as August last year that the new English language standards were to be introduced, but ignored it until they had almost completed their course, to avoid refunding them a $24,000 enrolment fee.
“We feel cheated and tricked by the university,” one student Vicky (her English name; she didn’t want to be identified) told Crikey. “Australia is supposed to be a fair-go country, yet we are not being treated in a fair way. We do not expect such unfair treatment in Australia.”
The students also feel they are being discriminated against because they are from China, as students from India were granted provisional registration with the NMBA. They question whether this is because they had better community advocates and are considered more politically sensitive.
“It is unfair,” Vicky said. “Why do the Indian students get registration [provisional] and not us?”
Before enrolling in July 2009, students were informed they required an IELTS score of 6.5 to study nursing and registration with the NBV. It came as a shock when they learnt they could not gain registration with the new NMBA unless they had an IELTS score of seven. A score of six is considered competent, while seven is proficient. Most skilled workers require an IELTS score of six.
In April this year the students approached the nursing faculty and asked about rumours that registration standards were to be changed. The university dismissed their fears, telling them not to listen to unsubstantiated rumours as there were no planned changes to the standards. But in July, before the students graduated, the university informed them via an email they must resit the IELTS and score seven or more to become registered with the NMBA.
The students’ visas were to expire at the end of August and they felt there was no support provided other than an offer of funding the preparation course at a slightly reduced cost. A group of students met with the vice-chancellor of Burwood campus demanding the university provide more support.
Students say a Chinese member of the nursing staff attacked them for raising their concerns, while the head of nursing and midwifery, Professor Maxine Duke, said that preparing and sitting for the exam was their responsibility. The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) intervened, demanding the university provide the IELTS preparation course for free, along with extending the students visas. The ANF also provided them with a five-week preparation course free, which they found to be superior to the university’s course.
The university claimed students, who had completed a Bachelor of Nursing degree, would be exempt as “applicants for registration that had completed a bachelors degree in English in Australia were exempt” from the new standards. The university claimed that clause was later revoked by the AHPRA.
On April 11 last year an education agent in India emailed Deakin International asking when students complete the nursing course whether they had to resit the IELTS and score seven to be registered. A staff member emailed back on August 13 saying “no” as “successful completion of the course allows students to register with the NBV” and they would not have to resit the IELTS.
The AHPRA claimed all universities and registered training organisations were informed in 2008 the revised IELTS criteria would be implemented in July. Spokesperson Charmaine Dillon-Smith rejects claims that AHPRA did not consult extensively:
“All Australian state and territory nursing boards endorsed the same standards in July 2009. The NMBA consulted extensively on its proposed English language skills standard in October 2009,” she said. The changes were designed to protect the Australian public, she said, admitting the recent jailing in Queensland of doctor Jayant Patel for manslaughter was the catalyst for the changes.
Students are now concerned they won’t be able to pass the exam with such little preparation. Several students enrolled into TAFE courses along with undertaking the preparation course in case they didn’t pass. Vicky says if they had known about the changes before enrolling they would have worked at reaching the higher score back home in China.
“The short notice is too stressful. Too much pressure for us all,” she said. Students would prefer to have provisional registration, she said, which would allow them to take the exam at a later date.
What a mess! Having worked in higher education for many years I know the woes of the IELTS score system.
Some people come to the country with a good score (having done the test in their home country) and they end up struggling with English. Others do not quite get the score needed, and yet have quite good English.
And if you made the average Aussie sit the exam? … yes… well…. a lot would not get 7.
Clearly we need a standard and a minimum bottom line for different industries. But the way the system turns out the most unusual results, tells everyone concerned that it is not done properly in various countries.
Tragically, these nurses seem to have been either misled on purpose (not wanting them to withdraw too early and thereby needing to refund them their fees, sounds possible), or misled because of incompetence. Neither option sounds very exciting from the uni’s end.
To offer the affected students a free IELTS preparation course, and chance to lift their result, is a good solution. So could be provisional registration. Just don’t kick them out of the country now that the uni has their money! Give them a chance and a fair timeframe, to improve.
Could the reason that Indian students get more favorable language treatment than Chinese students have anything to do with the fact that most educated Indians speak English already. Indeed wasn’t English an official language of India until recently?
What has passing a university course got to do with immigration.
How do students who can’t read, write or understand english able to sit for exams in Australia? Are they given exams in their own language?
I think it is imperative that anyone who wishes to work in the Australian Health Industry as a doctor or nurse should be able to speak english clearly, and must be able to read and write fluently.
I don’t think anyone who comes to Australia should think that passing a university course is a road to permanent residency.
Maree Whitton, as a Lecturer Tutor to nurses in university I can assure you that they do no get to sit exams in their own language. Many of these students speak and write passable English that can get them through the day at university but many are better at written English than spoken English. I often see my students working on there written work with electronic translators. Compassionate universities do have English language programs and support running throughout their undergraduate career and this has become even more important now that the students are required to meet the IELTS. It has to be remembered that since the Howard Government budgetary cuts to universities these students are an important source of revenue to universities so in my view the university does have some duty to look after these students and help them with their language problems. It is mandatory in all NSW Health facitilities for all staff to speak and write in English.
Communication has been identified by many researchers as a very important issue in the health system and this applies to the inability of those who speak perfect English to communicate as much as it does to those for whom English is a second language. It sounds as the university in this situation has not dealt with these student fairly and they need a good advocate. Hopefully the ANF is assisting them.
Jenny Haines, I wonder if you have ever been a patient in our Public Hospital system. The english langauge skills of a lot of the foreign doctors and nurses are deplorable and at times patients, particularly the elderly, find it very difficult to understand foreign staff, so, I still think it is a good thing that the Universities are at last doing something about this. It still astounds me that the students are good enough for exams but not good enough to pass the english exams.