Return to Chapter 6

National Review of Nursing Education 

Exhibit 6

• Exhibit 6.1 Employment growth
• Exhibit 6.2 Proportional comparison of nursing workers
• Exhibit 6.3: Nursing professionals employment growth
• Exhibit 6.4 Change in Enrolled Nurse employment
• Exhibit 6.5 Changes in PCA and AIN employment
• Exhibit 6.6 Labour market growth
• Exhibit 6.7 Net replacement needs
• Exhibit 6.8 Projected net job openings
• Exhibit 6.9 Nurse migration
• Exhibit 6.10 Rural and isolated students
• Exhibit 6.11 Postgraduate certificate and diplomas

top

Note: The proportions across the three occupation groups, for each State or Territory, may not add to 100 because the Directors of Nursing who are included in Nursing Workers are not in any one of the three groups.

top

Note: The average annual rate was estimated by fitting a log linear model to the annual employment data. Only estimate for Registered Mental Health Nurses is not significant at less than 5 per cent level.

top

Exhibit 6.4 Change in Enrolled Nurse employment

Table E6.3 Employment of Enrolled Nurses by State and Territory, 1987–2001 (Shah and Burke, Table 6)

Note: The average annual rate was estimated by fitting a log linear model to the annual employment data. Only estimates for Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania are significant at less than 10 per cent level.

top

Exhibit 6.5 Changes in PCA and AIN employment

Table E6.4 Change in employment of Personal Carers and Nursing Assistants by State and Territory, 1987–2001 (Shah and Burke, Table 7)

Note: The average annual rate was estimated by fitting a log linear model to the annual employment data. Only estimates for Victoria, Queensland South Australia and Western Australia are significant at less than 10 per cent level.

top

Note: Growth forecasts are reproduced here with permission from CoPS, Monash University. Estimates for the smaller occupations are subject to large standard errors and should therefore be used with caution.

top

Exhibit 6.7 Net replacement needs

Table E6.6 Projected net replacement needs in nursing occupations and aged and disability person carers in Australia, 2001–06 (Shah and Burke, Table 14 and A3)

Note: Estimates for the smaller occupations are subject to large standard errors and should therefore be used with caution.

top

Exhibit 6.8 Projected net job openings

Table E6.7 Projected net job openings in nursing occupations and aged and disability person carers in Australia, 2001–06 (Shah and Burke, Table 19)

Note: Estimates for the smaller occupations are subject to large standard errors and should therefore be used with caution.

top

Exhibit 6.9 Nurse migration

Nurses from countries with a level of education that meets Australian standards are able to enter Australia either on permanent or temporary long stay visas and immediately commence work in Australian hospitals. Nurses whose qualifications have been determined by nursing authorities to not currently be at the Australian standard are able to come to Australia on student, occupational trainee or short stay business visas to undergo training to reach the appropriate standard. After having successfully completed their education, these nurses are eligible to transfer to permanent or longer term temporary visas. In addition, other well qualified nurses are able to come here on working holidays and work for up to three months for a single employer.

Overseas nurses entering Australia on a permanent basis who have been assessed by the Australian Nursing Council Incorporated (ANCI) as being at the required Australian standard and then need to apply for registration.

There is a range of options under which eligible nurses enter Australia on a permanent basis. These include the Employer Nomination Scheme, Labour Agreements, the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme and General Skilled Migration.

In 2000–01, 15 nurses entered Australia on a permanent basis under the Employer Nomination Scheme.

Three labour agreements providing for the permanent and/or temporary entry of Registered Nurses from overseas are currently in force, two in Western Australia and one in the Northern Territory. These agreements provided for up 130 Registered Nurses from overseas and the temporary entry of up to 520 Registered Nurses. Two of the employers concerned are State and Territory government authorities, the other is a private nursing agency.

The Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme helps employers in regional or low population growth areas to recruit skilled overseas persons on a permanent basis, when they are unable to fill vacancies from the local labour market. In 2000–01, three nurses entered Australia on a permanent basis under this scheme.

There are three general skilled migration categories which saw some 430 nurses enter Australia on a permanent basis in 2000–01.

Of the visas available under these categories, the Skilled Independent visa, for those persons who do not have a sponsor or who choose not to be sponsored, is the visa most used by qualified overseas nurses to enter Australia on a permanent basis.

The traditional source countries for the temporary entry of nurses of qualified nurses who come to Australia have been Britain, Ireland and South Africa. Lately, there has been an increasing demand by hospitals and nursing agencies for nurses from other countries, such as the Philippines and Thailand.

There is a range of temporary entry visas under which nurses might come to Australia and work. They are:

• Business (Long Stay);

• Occupational Trainee; and

• Working Holiday Maker.

Additionally, some nurses enter Australia under Student or Business Short Stay visas to undertake migrant nurse bridging programmes in order to gain registration for work purposes. Short Stay Business Visa holders are permitted a stay of up to three months.

From July 1999, the opportunities for overseas students studying in Australia for qualifications in key skill areas, such as nursing, increased. Students now have the option of applying to remain and work here permanently, rather than departing Australia. Additionally, students who come to Australia and complete an Australian nursing qualification at Diploma level or higher, and are sponsored by an Australian employer, may apply to remain here as a temporary resident.

The Working Holiday Maker Programme is used by single, overseas nurses in the 18 to 30 age group. Under the programme, nurses may remain with an employer for up to three months. A recent study determined that about 3,200 visas were granted to nurses in 2000–2001. Working holiday maker visa holders are eligible to transfer to other longer stay temporary or permanent entry visas while remaining in Australia.

top

Exhibit 6.10 Rural and isolated students

While the proportional representation of rural and isolated students has increased, the overall decrease in non-overseas nursing commencements across the period 1994 to 2000 has resulted in fewer rural and isolated students beginning nursing. The major effect of the decrease has however been due to the decrease in student coming from areas other than rural and isolated. This latter group has decreased across the period by 33 per cent compared to a decrease of about 12 per cent for rural students from the 1994 number of 2625, and 19 per cent for isolated students from 267 in 1994 to 217 in 2000. The number of students from isolated areas tends to be fairly erratic.

top

Exhibit 6.11 Postgraduate certificate and diplomas

The following figures provide information on the distribution of fees and charges, the numbers by age groups and distribution by age groups studying the group of courses labelled postgraduate other in the DETYA university statistics database. The courses included are largely postgraduate certificates and diplomas.

The proportion of HECS load to fee-paying since 1994 has changed. By 2000 more than half the load covering postgraduate certificates and diplomas was fee-paying, compared with less that 30 per cent in 1994. In comparison in 2000 approximately there was a fee-paying load of approximately 20 per cent in the Masters and Doctorates by course work. The age groups that have been dropping since the big increase in the proportion of fee-paying for postgraduate certificates and diplomas in 1998 is the 20–24-year-old group and to a lesser extent the 25–29 age group. Enrolments in other age groups have been stable or risen slightly. Across the period 1994–2000 the proportional age distribution has shifted from slightly more than 50 per cent under 30 years of age to about 46 per cent.

Return to Chapter 6

home  |  search  |  site map

Any comments or queries should be sent to: highered@dest.gov.au

This page was last updated on Tuesday, 04 December 2001
Department of Education, Science and Training
Copyright © Commonwealth of Australia
DEST Web Site Privacy Statement
Disclaimer