You are here More Pages
Health and wellbeing

Nursing Education and Research

The UOW School of Nursing delivers nursing degrees from six sites across predominantly regional and rural NSW, and is committed to strengthening the rural and regional nursing workforce. It is the only school of nursing with a footprint across most of the southern half of NSW.

By providing the opportunity for people to study nursing and undertake placements in regional and rural areas, UOW is widening participation and encouraging a stronger rural nursing workforce with people able to study and work locally.

The Nursing Education initiative of the Health & Wellbeing Strategy seeks to grow UOW’s successful nursing education program through the establishment of a nursing and research facility in Western Sydney (WeSNER) at its Liverpool Campus, and a Nursing Clinical Learning Facility at its Bega Valley Campus.

UOW is committed to growing the number of registered nurses that are able to meet the demands of a rapidly changing healthcare service, and who are transformative in their practice and confident to advocate for themselves and their patients.

The Bega Nursing Clinical Learning Facility provides benefits to the local community through quality of clinical care and health and wellbeing as the ageing of Bega’s population increases demand on the region’s health services. The $1.5 million facility located on UOW’s Bega Valley Campus was officially opened in March 2016 to provide local nursing students with the opportunity to learn and practice their skills in a variety of different settings, including a three-bed hospital ward and student support offices for careers advice, learning development and academic consultations.

With strong links to UOW’s School of Nursing within the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, the Clinical Learning Facility will focus on educating local nursing students to be trained leaders in their field, to support the growing demand for nurses in regional areas, including Bega Valley and Southern NSW. This is facilitated by the provision of state-of-the-art equipment to provide ‘hands-on’ training for students who are able to work in smaller groups at the new facility.

Nursing students are supported through opportunities to undertake clinical placements through UOW’s partnership with the South East Regional Hospital in Bega, to further develop the critical skills needed to be a trained nurse now and in the future.

The Nursing Clinical Learning facility in Bega will

  1. Create a larger pool of potential employees locally, delivering continued economic benefits to the region
  2. Support the health and education needs of the far South Coast
  3. Provide students with state-of-the-art education in their local region

How we are delivering

  1. UOW students will undertake clinical placements within the region
  2. UOW students complete the degree on the Bega Valley campus

The Western Sydney Nursing Education and Research Centre (WeSNER) is an important part of UOW’s commitment to meeting community needs, with the South Western Sydney region seeing an increasing demand for nurses because of its rapid growth, ageing population and increasing incidence of chronic diseases.

WeSNER is a strategic focus of UOW’s Liverpool Campus, which began operating in Liverpool in January 2017, with postgraduate students commencing in March 2017 and undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing in February 2019.

WeSNER builds upon a firm foundation of UOW existing reputation for excellence in learning and teaching, research and practice. It is the University’s sixth nursing education facility, similar in size and standard to UOW’s nursing school at the Wollongong Campus.

Central to achieving the vision for the WeSNER is an innovative person-centred care approach that supports the connectivity of the School and facilitates collaborations with the local community, national stakeholders and international partners. WeSNER accommodates around 470 undergraduate and 420 postgraduate nursing students and focuses on person-centred models of csre that showcase the latest in technology, to provide authentic learning experiences for students.

WeSNER continues to...

  1. Increase the region’s capacity to meet increasing healthcare needs due to population growth, an ageing population and an increasing incidence of chronic diseases
  2. Provide nursing and healthcare education in the local community
  3. Encourage the next generation of nurses to study, work and undertake research in the Liverpool area. This will help retain registered nurses within the region.
  4. Provide world-class educational opportunities for the people of Liverpool and the Greater South West
  5. Develop further collaborative relationships at all levels for the benefit of the region
  6. Contribute to the growth of the Health and Education precinct within Liverpool, with WeSNER being in close proximity to Liverpool Hospital