HCI in nursing deal with Ramsay and Arizona State University

Arizona State University has joined Australian partners to expand nursing education and fill a global skills gap.

Education partnership: (from left) Cintana chief strategy officer Chris Hill, HCI CEO Bijo Kunnumpurath and Ramsay Health Care chief nurse Bernadette Eather.

Tertiary education provider HCI Australia, which specialises in health education, has teamed up with hospital operator Ramsay Health Care and Arizona State University.

The new partnership aims to boost nursing training to help fill the shortfall in Australia and overseas, with HCI providing training and Ramsay giving student nurses clinical placements in its network of 75 hospitals and clinics in Australia and 400 overseas.

The agreement allows HCI to use curriculum and course content from Arizona State University, which has long been recognised as a leader in online education.

HCI operates two education providers: the Institute of Health and Management, which offers postgraduate education for nurses and a bachelor degree in social work; and the Institute of Health and Nursing Australia, which teaches nursing, allied health and other courses at vocational level.

HCI founder and CEO Bijou Kunnumpurath said the partnership was based on an “education for employment” model that aimed to help address the global shortage of nurses and health workers.

Dr Kunnumpurath, whose institutes educate both Australian and international students, said the new venture would give students “clear pathways” to employment after graduation.

In joining with Arizona State University, HCI becomes part of a network of education institutions around the world that are supported to educate at scale.

The university, in partnership with US education consultant Cintana, has created an alliance of universities that can use Arizona State University intellectual property, and get assistance with marketing, recruitment, accreditation and advisory services.

Cintana was founded by US education entrepreneur Doug Becker, who founded global education provider Laureate, the group that originally set up Torrens University in 2014.

Through the alliance with Arizona State University, his Cintana group now sells curriculum and expertise to a network of education institutions worldwide.

Mr Becker said it was a network of universities “working together to meet demand for highly skilled, job-ready professionals, particularly in the rapidly expanding global healthcare sector”.

Ramsay Health Care’s chief nurse and clinical services director, Bernadette Eather, said the company, because of the widespread location of its hospitals and clinics, would be able to ensure that the courses were accessible to people in regional areas of Aus­tralia.