Nursing students are up in arms and use petition to take action against Charles Darwin University

Charles Darwin University’s nursing students have voiced their outrage over a shaky semester they feel was out of their hands. Read their demands.

The Territory’s nursing students have voiced their outrage and taken action against Charles Darwin University for what they say are alleged teaching failures.

A petition has been circulated among students studying CDU’s Leadership for Nursing Practice, calling for an automatic pass, rounded out grades and a 50 per cent refund on tuition fees.

An anonymous nursing student – writing under the alias of Sara Smith – launched the petition online to address six alleged breaches against the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency’s higher education standards framework.

Ms Smith said many of the 765 students taking the class were concerned they would fail the subject due to “highly vague” assessment outlines, two-month turnarounds for assessment feedback, and inaccessible support staff.

She said additional academics were introduced to support the workload but the course was “marked against criteria that was contradictory to what the (assessment) outline was”.

“For example, on my essay, they kept saying in the comments, ‘you didn’t focus on the initiative enough’ but in the outline it says, ‘note: do not focus on the initiative’,” Ms Smith said.

Charles Darwin University nursing students have expressed their distress over how they feel the past semester has been handled.

The future of the Territory’s nursing workforce hangs in the balance with hundreds needing to pass the discontinued subject to get their final marks before the month is out.

Ms Smith said the semester’s alleged hiccups meant many final-year students were concerned they would “unfairly” fail the class and be unable to complete their degrees on time to join the workforce, where some have already lined up graduate roles.

“Students need their final grade by June 30 to apply for their (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) registration to start their career as a Graduate Registered Nurse,” she said.

“We do not think this is going to happen as there needs to be re-marks and no assessment has been marked in a timely manner.”

There were 82 signatures on the petition as of noon Wednesday.

CDU Faculty of Health Pro Vice-Chancellor Dominic Upton said the university would not meet the demands of the students' petition. Picture: Sierra Haigh

CDU Faculty of Health Pro Vice-Chancellor Dominic Upton said the university could not guarantee a passing grade for students enrolled in Leadership for Nursing Practice.

“We award marks on whether the students have met the learning outcomes,” Mr Upton said.

“We will apply our standards to ensure students meet the standards required of a graduate nurse.”

He did not confirm whether a tuition fee refund would be available to students.

Mr Upton said the university was concerned to hear some of its students were unhappy.

“We seek to provide an excellent learning experience and a professional environment in which to learn,” he said.

“Students are encouraged to raise complaints with the staff member or area closest to the source of issue (face-to-face, telephone or email) to resolve quickly.

“If the complaint cannot be resolved or student is unsatisfied, a student can proceed with a formal complaint with its own appeal process.

“For (this unit), three formal complaints have been made this year and resolved at the faculty level.”

Mr Upton said he disagreed the assessment outlines were vague.

“We have provided additional support from across the University to support our nursing students,” he said.

“We have regular meetings – along with additional regular drop-ins – between the course co-ordinator and students and have regular online correspondence.”

Originally published as Nursing students are up in arms and use petition to take action against Charles Darwin University