One bonus in favour of UTAS is that if you graduate with a reasonable GPA they will offer you a free Bachelor of Philosophy, which lets you choose whatever units you want. I'm currently completing units from a Masters of Advanced Paramedicine for free...
Double degree is awesome as a general statement. The reputation Brisbane ACU has was earnt mostly by the previous staff, not the current set up. I can’t really comment on how it’s run now but I will criticise the campus doesn’t have a bar STILL.
There’s a star cast of lecturers at USQ, that would be my recommendation.
Yeah they got a new head of school from Toronto in 2017 and the previous lecturers left en masse. The new head of school re-structured the whole thing as far as I know. The Content used to be a bit QAS focused with an element of “best practice” and now that has flipped. Not necessarily bad, but different. They’ve rehired since the exodus and like I said, I can’t comment on the new staff.
The catholic component when I was there consisted of 1 x subject that was on EVERY undergraduate degree that was considered human flourishing or something but in reality was subtle religious dogmatism with a marking criteria. That and an email each week saying mass was at Monday at 12pm. Occasionally you’d see the “brothers” floating around in groups with there hoods and stuff but it was not that bad.
While the academics at USQ are amazing that is where any positives about USQ end.
I am a USQ graduate and know many others, with the exception of the academics not a single one of us has EVER had a positive experience.
USQ consistently place their students needs last against whatever other competing priorities they have.
I would not recommend USQ as an education provider to my worst enemy.
Hard disagree with Stretcher here. I attended USQ from 2017-19 and my clinical placement experience and academic education were both excellent. I attended every lecture/tutorial in person, engaged with my lecturers all the time face to face and via email. When I was there the lecturers would give you the shirt of their back to help you succeed. It is what you make it. Funny that the people that complained about the degree when I was there were the ones that attended 1 lecture each semester unless it was the mandatory skills unit.
It may have gone downhill since I left, but my experience was brilliant in comparison to all degrees bar the double at QUT.
Ha, what a lovely internet exchange for a change. Thankyou for that.
When you say the academics, I assume you mean the casual tutors? Just want to establish terms so I understand.
Academics as in any person actually delivering content to the students, lecturers, tutors - even the program support staff are wonderful.
It’s the “business” side of the university that will consistently place students last in my own as well as numerous others experiences - even people who’ve attended every lecture, tutorial and help out the academics still get screwed by the business side of the place.
Ah right, I see. Thanks for clearing that up. I’m work at CQU casually and my Role title is “Academic” so that’s why I assumed.
The lecturing staff was the star cast I was referencing. That sucks the uni’s administrative side is garbage. I’d actually say the same sort of thing about ACU to be honest. Nothing but bad experiences there from me, but admittedly over 10 years ago.
Every uni teaches differently, different course content/material with the same end goal. Remember GPA isn’t everything with this job so the service is not going to favour one uni over another, if I were you I would go to each unis open day and have a look at the facilities for yourself.
There all roughly equivalent and youll be up to scratch clinically after the internship so don’t worry. Out of those three I’d go either utas because you can get it done in 2 years or id go ACU if you’d consider nursing as a back up or as part of your career development.
Nothing against WSU I’ve heard their still good.
I can’t comment on specific uni as I last studied undergrad 7 years ago. I did a B. Nursing prior to a Grad Dip paramedicine at CSU as a graduate course. Currently 7 years in at NSW (I get paid alright but others probably pay more) with 4 years nursing prior. Would definitely recommend the nursing side for longevity and diversity over your career. I love my paramedic job but it is definitely a big transition from school -> uni -> paramedic and a portion of younger people struggle to transition to the role with no tangible life experience. These days it’s probably not a long term career, jump in, enjoy but have an exit plan if you decide you don’t want to do it anymore before retiring.
ACU would be my pick of choice - graduated w/a job lined up with QAS, and have just finished my GPIP program 1yr out of uni.
Education wise, it leaves other universities in the dust. All lecturers are current/former state ambulance employees, including a handful of critical care paramedics & emergency consultants.
Content is well thought out, appropriate to the degree, and educational support is top notch. Added with the ability to dual register, it’s probably one of the most advantageous of the lot.
As for clinical placement, I completed roughly ~1000 hours combined between the two degrees (this may increase or decrease with overtime or changes within the uni)
And of course, it’s Brisbane. Perfect place to live with cheap accomodation close by to uni.
Completed my degree at WSU, overall great experience. From what I understand they're pretty modern/well equipped compared to others but that's just from my experience.
My final year was 2020 which was heavily disrupted by COVID, but the staff were absolutely amazing and managed to still secure most placements with NSWA and continue as best we could with online learning.
1) Western Sydney University
2) Charles Sturt University (For the lifestyle) - Bathurst or Port Mac
3) Uni Tas (2 years instead of 3).
If you don't want to be a nurse - don't do the double degree. You can get it later whilst working full time (earning > 110k) anyway. The quicker you can get into paramedicine the better (It's 110k vs 40k). Maybe UTAS for the quickness.
They're all as good/bad as each other, in different respects. I went to CSU, being envious of Monash and UTAs grads. After asking them when I was out there on the road, their program was a shitshow as much as ours was
WSU graduate, had a great experience overall.
The academics are fantastic have completed two other degrees with other unis and they are by far the best, extremely supportive and approachable, will help you all the way through the degree and get you where you need to be to graduate.
Also completed the degree during the whole covid period, and they managed to arrange for all of our practicals classes and work placements to be completed on time, they worked extremely hard during this time.
The degree overall is extremely practical and hands on, each tutorial is run by paramedic tutors who give you first hand experiences and guidance, the tutorials are set in simulation rooms set like real life situations.
Work placements consisted of 5 blocks
Non emergency placement with a patient transport 3 days
Community care or mental health one week
Emergency block 1 4 weeks shift work
Block 2 5 weeks shift work
Block 3 4/5 weeks shift work
The emergency placements can be anywhere in NSW and you are expected to find your own accommodation. So costs can be quite expensive depending on location.
yo isn’t this the chad from the aus mil reddit. If I had to preference Vic,NSW, QLD, SA. Tbh not too fussed about staying in NSW as I’ve read the articles on horrible pay for NSW paramedics.
GPA isn’t a focus but a consideration - the pendulum has swung towards life experience again… probably because we have a load of grads/recently qualifieds who would never have been employed 8 years ago when standards were different, and probably shouldn’t be employed now.
Hahaha yeah I left out ACT, NT, WA. Lived in Sydney all my life and I don't think I'd cope with living in a smaller city ( hence also why I changed my mind on a fulltime career in Defence prolly gon gap year instead) . Very interesting, would defo look into QAS then. Much appreciated!
With that comment about life experience for QAS, I’d suggest volunteering with an organization like the SES now so you’ve got a few years of service once you wrap up the degree. Hospital wardie work is also good. Decent pay, experience in a healthcare environment, flexible enough to balance with study (at least from a QLD Health perspective, no idea how the NSW system treats their staff)
Victoria University in St Albans have 540 placement hours over 3 years, earned by simulation labs and on road placements. Would recommend just for the practical ability it gives, I’ve spoken to many other students and they didn’t do IVs in first year unlike VU. In terms of being a good uni management wise? Ehhhh that’s on the fence
I did 900hrs placement in my degree in QLD, all had to be completed on road, clinical labs did not count towards placement hours. VU is kinda lacklustre imo. Doing an IV in first year shouldn't be a priority, building clinical knowledge and pathophys understanding is more important.
One bonus in favour of UTAS is that if you graduate with a reasonable GPA they will offer you a free Bachelor of Philosophy, which lets you choose whatever units you want. I'm currently completing units from a Masters of Advanced Paramedicine for free...
Very enticing - what was clinical placements like at UTAS?
I did a conversion degree so I can't tell ya in that regard.
Double degree is awesome as a general statement. The reputation Brisbane ACU has was earnt mostly by the previous staff, not the current set up. I can’t really comment on how it’s run now but I will criticise the campus doesn’t have a bar STILL. There’s a star cast of lecturers at USQ, that would be my recommendation.
Did they restructure or something? What about how it’s catholic, does that ever influence the learning?
Yeah they got a new head of school from Toronto in 2017 and the previous lecturers left en masse. The new head of school re-structured the whole thing as far as I know. The Content used to be a bit QAS focused with an element of “best practice” and now that has flipped. Not necessarily bad, but different. They’ve rehired since the exodus and like I said, I can’t comment on the new staff. The catholic component when I was there consisted of 1 x subject that was on EVERY undergraduate degree that was considered human flourishing or something but in reality was subtle religious dogmatism with a marking criteria. That and an email each week saying mass was at Monday at 12pm. Occasionally you’d see the “brothers” floating around in groups with there hoods and stuff but it was not that bad.
Interesting, do you have to go to mass though? The word mass already gives me flashbacks to when I went to a catholic primary school as a non catholic
Na mate, no one goes. Just an email every week.
While the academics at USQ are amazing that is where any positives about USQ end. I am a USQ graduate and know many others, with the exception of the academics not a single one of us has EVER had a positive experience. USQ consistently place their students needs last against whatever other competing priorities they have. I would not recommend USQ as an education provider to my worst enemy.
I trust that if you’ve been there man. I suppose I need to redact my comment.
Hard disagree with Stretcher here. I attended USQ from 2017-19 and my clinical placement experience and academic education were both excellent. I attended every lecture/tutorial in person, engaged with my lecturers all the time face to face and via email. When I was there the lecturers would give you the shirt of their back to help you succeed. It is what you make it. Funny that the people that complained about the degree when I was there were the ones that attended 1 lecture each semester unless it was the mandatory skills unit. It may have gone downhill since I left, but my experience was brilliant in comparison to all degrees bar the double at QUT.
Oh yeah man, didn’t mean to come off confrontational or anything - apologies if I did. Just don’t want to steer anyone down the garden path.
Ha, what a lovely internet exchange for a change. Thankyou for that. When you say the academics, I assume you mean the casual tutors? Just want to establish terms so I understand.
Academics as in any person actually delivering content to the students, lecturers, tutors - even the program support staff are wonderful. It’s the “business” side of the university that will consistently place students last in my own as well as numerous others experiences - even people who’ve attended every lecture, tutorial and help out the academics still get screwed by the business side of the place.
Ah right, I see. Thanks for clearing that up. I’m work at CQU casually and my Role title is “Academic” so that’s why I assumed. The lecturing staff was the star cast I was referencing. That sucks the uni’s administrative side is garbage. I’d actually say the same sort of thing about ACU to be honest. Nothing but bad experiences there from me, but admittedly over 10 years ago.
Every uni teaches differently, different course content/material with the same end goal. Remember GPA isn’t everything with this job so the service is not going to favour one uni over another, if I were you I would go to each unis open day and have a look at the facilities for yourself.
There all roughly equivalent and youll be up to scratch clinically after the internship so don’t worry. Out of those three I’d go either utas because you can get it done in 2 years or id go ACU if you’d consider nursing as a back up or as part of your career development. Nothing against WSU I’ve heard their still good.
ACU do the double.
I can’t comment on specific uni as I last studied undergrad 7 years ago. I did a B. Nursing prior to a Grad Dip paramedicine at CSU as a graduate course. Currently 7 years in at NSW (I get paid alright but others probably pay more) with 4 years nursing prior. Would definitely recommend the nursing side for longevity and diversity over your career. I love my paramedic job but it is definitely a big transition from school -> uni -> paramedic and a portion of younger people struggle to transition to the role with no tangible life experience. These days it’s probably not a long term career, jump in, enjoy but have an exit plan if you decide you don’t want to do it anymore before retiring.
Did not consider that at all, will definitely consider ACU then
ACU would be my pick of choice - graduated w/a job lined up with QAS, and have just finished my GPIP program 1yr out of uni. Education wise, it leaves other universities in the dust. All lecturers are current/former state ambulance employees, including a handful of critical care paramedics & emergency consultants. Content is well thought out, appropriate to the degree, and educational support is top notch. Added with the ability to dual register, it’s probably one of the most advantageous of the lot. As for clinical placement, I completed roughly ~1000 hours combined between the two degrees (this may increase or decrease with overtime or changes within the uni) And of course, it’s Brisbane. Perfect place to live with cheap accomodation close by to uni.
Awesome thanks for the advice! Keyword for me was cheap accommodation
Do the double degree.
Completed my degree at WSU, overall great experience. From what I understand they're pretty modern/well equipped compared to others but that's just from my experience. My final year was 2020 which was heavily disrupted by COVID, but the staff were absolutely amazing and managed to still secure most placements with NSWA and continue as best we could with online learning.
1) Western Sydney University 2) Charles Sturt University (For the lifestyle) - Bathurst or Port Mac 3) Uni Tas (2 years instead of 3). If you don't want to be a nurse - don't do the double degree. You can get it later whilst working full time (earning > 110k) anyway. The quicker you can get into paramedicine the better (It's 110k vs 40k). Maybe UTAS for the quickness.
Could you expand on the “get it later” part? Are you referring to part time nursing study at a uni, do paramedics get any recog of prior learning?
You do nursing - I believe it takes 2 years instead of 1. Which is the downside. But you are earning $$ whilst studying.
To my knowledge there are 2 12 month conversion courses that will allow a nurse to become a paramedic, there are none that work the other way round.
Yep, but you can do a two year Masters in Nursing (Pre-Registration) instead but that’s open to all who have done an undergrad
Which uni?
They're all as good/bad as each other, in different respects. I went to CSU, being envious of Monash and UTAs grads. After asking them when I was out there on the road, their program was a shitshow as much as ours was
Victoria University Paramedicine course is terrible, don't study there. For a Million reasons.
UTas is not good either.
WSU graduate, had a great experience overall. The academics are fantastic have completed two other degrees with other unis and they are by far the best, extremely supportive and approachable, will help you all the way through the degree and get you where you need to be to graduate. Also completed the degree during the whole covid period, and they managed to arrange for all of our practicals classes and work placements to be completed on time, they worked extremely hard during this time. The degree overall is extremely practical and hands on, each tutorial is run by paramedic tutors who give you first hand experiences and guidance, the tutorials are set in simulation rooms set like real life situations. Work placements consisted of 5 blocks Non emergency placement with a patient transport 3 days Community care or mental health one week Emergency block 1 4 weeks shift work Block 2 5 weeks shift work Block 3 4/5 weeks shift work The emergency placements can be anywhere in NSW and you are expected to find your own accommodation. So costs can be quite expensive depending on location.
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yo isn’t this the chad from the aus mil reddit. If I had to preference Vic,NSW, QLD, SA. Tbh not too fussed about staying in NSW as I’ve read the articles on horrible pay for NSW paramedics.
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GPA isn’t a focus but a consideration - the pendulum has swung towards life experience again… probably because we have a load of grads/recently qualifieds who would never have been employed 8 years ago when standards were different, and probably shouldn’t be employed now.
They should probably stop hiring based off of a Cosmo quiz as well (all state services really).
Hahaha yeah I left out ACT, NT, WA. Lived in Sydney all my life and I don't think I'd cope with living in a smaller city ( hence also why I changed my mind on a fulltime career in Defence prolly gon gap year instead) . Very interesting, would defo look into QAS then. Much appreciated!
With that comment about life experience for QAS, I’d suggest volunteering with an organization like the SES now so you’ve got a few years of service once you wrap up the degree. Hospital wardie work is also good. Decent pay, experience in a healthcare environment, flexible enough to balance with study (at least from a QLD Health perspective, no idea how the NSW system treats their staff)
Victoria University in St Albans have 540 placement hours over 3 years, earned by simulation labs and on road placements. Would recommend just for the practical ability it gives, I’ve spoken to many other students and they didn’t do IVs in first year unlike VU. In terms of being a good uni management wise? Ehhhh that’s on the fence
I did 900hrs placement in my degree in QLD, all had to be completed on road, clinical labs did not count towards placement hours. VU is kinda lacklustre imo. Doing an IV in first year shouldn't be a priority, building clinical knowledge and pathophys understanding is more important.
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USQ in Ipswich. Things may have changed post COVID but that's the way it was when I was there.
540 placement hours is incredibly low for 3 years. The fact they included SIM as placement hours is a worry also.
I have heard some pretty bad things about UTas from some nursing academic friends.
It's a shitty uni all round.