International Student's Testimonial

Yumiko Ikezawa
Yukako Fujiki
Michiyo Yamaki

We all commenced our Master Degree of Nursing at the University of Wollongong in February 2001, as full-time students. All of us have several years work experience in different areas as a Registered Nurse in Japan and also studied in the conversion course in different periods prior to our Masters.

Our initial purpose of studying in Australia was solely to obtain the Bachelor degree. Since this University has the conversion course (minimum of six months), which provides the Bachelor degree to the Japanese Registered Nurses who do not have the Bachelor degree, we all headed for Australia to do our Bachelor degrees at the University of Wollongong.

However, during our Bachelor's degrees, our motivation for continuing further study had gradually been elevated due to the courteous instruction from the dedicated staff despite our unskilled English as well as the calm and peaceful circumstances that are suitable for studying. Now, as we during our Master's degrees, our interests in obtaining more knowledge and learning new fields have been raised day by day. As well, due to reflection of previous clinical experiences, our clinical awareness has been increased. Moreover, doing research has developed our computer skills. This will be very useful for us to continue nursing research after returning to our own country.

Yet, the greatest advantage of studying during the Nursing Postgraduate Degree at this University was that we had opportunities to meet not only Australian nurses but also other nurses who had different nationalities and who had work experience in their own countries such as other Asian countries and European countries. Particularly, many of them are already very experienced and could provide us with enormous amounts of quality advice based on their sufficient knowledge and experiences. We also learned how the Australian nursing system works and have been able to compare nursing experiences with our Australian counterparts. Another advantage about in Australia is that our English language has improved so much that we can now access much more information from Australian, American, and English medical and nursing journals.

Therefore, we recommend that international students study their Master Degree of Nursing at the University of Wollongong. Because of the courteous instruction, dedicated staff, peaceful study environment, and opportunities to learn from other nurses from Australia and many other countries, we have all greatly appreciated this experience.