Susie

4 corners recently did special on nurses in Australian hospitals who can't read English.

They did indeed, but the majority weren't student nurses Runner, they were foreign trained nurses.
I agree that foreign born nurses should be able to speak good English before being able to work in Australia.

Unfortunately, many of them lie about their English language capacity on their resumes, and have others fill out their paperwork for them. As this country does not really value it's nurses, then the profession is not attracting enough local nurses, so hospitals have to rely on foreign nurses.....they have no choice.

It is an issue for the taxpayer as well as the student, as 2/3rds of undergraduate fees are paid by the state, and 1/3 is subsidised by HECS.

While I understand that some students with ability achieve a low ATAR, and should be given a chance, I believe that a 3 month pre uni bridging course with exam should be able to weed out those that patently have no ability.

Tony: 'if you do no maths or science subjects for your HSC but still get a good enough ATAR from your humanities courses then you can study science, engineering, medicine and other science based courses.'

This doesn't apply to all universities. Last year my grand-daughter got a reasonably high ATAR (90) with maths and science subjects, but wasn't accepted into science at Melbourne Uni because her maths score was not high enough. She did get into U. Tasmania (where she lives).

I think the popularity of certain unis (eg the big ones, Melbourne, Sydney) means you need the right subjects and higher marks to compete for places there. I can't see anyone getting into science at Melbourne with just humanities subjects. I don't think there's anything wrong with UTas, just fewer people apply to go there. Actually it might be better, fewer students, more personal interaction with staff, the challenge to prove you really were good enough for Melbourne!

Hi there SUSEONLINE...

If what you say is true, and I'm sure it is, given your extensive background as a Registered Nurse.

Moreover any 'hospital' who knowingly hires a nurse, foreign or otherwise, or after hiring them, determines them wholly incompetent with the English language, either speaking, comprehension, reading or writing to a satisfactory standard, to safely discharge their duties; would indeed be held criminally culpable ('foresight of consequences'). Should any injury or death occur to a patient under the direct care of this nurse, foreign or otherwise.

The lynchpin SUSEONLINE for criminal capacity is; 'knowledge' and despite that 'knowledge', goes ahead anyway, in permitting that individual to practice as a nurse within the aegis of that particular hospital.

Shadow,

I don't think we should impose any more limitations. Even those who drop out learn stuff, both from the course content and the experience of being a uni student.

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Toni Lavis,

I'd be very surprised if there were any engineering degrees that you could enter without HSC level maths. In 2004 I was unable to commence an engineering degree at Adelaide Uni (despite having a very high STAT score) because I'd only done single mathematics in year 12. Although oddly enough they did say I'd be able to get into a mathematics degree!

I studied engineering at UniSA instead. They too had prerequisites, though not as stringent as Adelaide Uni's.