The best universities to study nursing in Australia in 2021
Nurses work closely with different health professionals, patients and their families, and are well known for their compassion and communication skills. As a nurse, you will encounter some people during the most difficult times of their lives and others during the most exciting times. This makes nursing a career that is both rewarding and versatile.
Some of the majors you can study within this field include aged care, child and family health, community health, mental health, midwifery, palliative care, primary healthcare, and rural and remote health.Although some degrees will let you specialise in a particular area, you may need to train and work in a range of areas first and complete additional study after graduation to work in the area you want to specialise in. This used to be the only way to get into midwifery, but undergraduate options are now available.
There are over 85 undergraduate degrees in nursing in Australia — you can find these listed on our course search. Our ratings look at specific strengths of Australian universities, giving insight to support and guide your decision-making when choosing a university.
This month, we looked at which undergraduate degrees nursing performed best inlearner engagement, student support and graduate salary.
This rating looks at the proportion of students who felt they were engaged with learning at their institution. It is based on the extent to which students felt prepared for study, had a sense of belonging at their institution, participated in discussions online or face-to-face, worked with other students, interacted with students outside of study and interacted with students different to them (including local students for international respondents).
Swinburne University of Technologyin Melbourneranked first with a 76.3% engagement rate, followed closely by The University of Notre Dame Australiawith 71%.
This rating looks at the proportion of students who were satisfied with the support they received from their institution. It is based on the extent to which students felt they received support to settle into study; experienced efficient enrolment and admissions processes; felt orientation activities were helpful; and found administrative staff and services, career advisers, academic or learning advisers, counsellors, financial advisers and health services to be available and helpful.
Murdoch Universityin Perth took the top place with an86.2% satisfaction rate. Swinburne University of Technologyranked again, taking second place with 81%.
This rating compares the median salary of graduates from different universities. Two Queensland-based universities —University of Southern Queensland and James Cook University (JCU) — tied for first place with a median annual salary of AUD$65,700. Queensland University of Technology (QUT)followed very closely in second place, with graduates earning a median annual salary of AU$65,200.
You can view all 2020 rankings for nursing here — filter by level to view both undergraduate and postgraduate ratings.
