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Author Tafe in Brisbane

emmiej

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Mon Sep 20, 2010 5:09 pm

I'm looking to study diploma of nursing next year. MSIT looks good at the moment for part time and cost, has anyone attended MSIT and found it to be a good insuite to attended for the diploma of nuring? Or in general does anyone have any good feedback to which tafes in brisbane offer good courses with great teachers and set out of program in realtion to part time study?

moonbeam

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Sep 21, 2010, 07:19 pm

Hi Emmiej,

I'm enrolled to start the Diploma of Nursing at MSIT in semester 1/2011. I'm going full time, and will be there as an international student (I'm a POM).

I guess you must be local as you're considering part time v full time. Lucky for you! International student fee's are sooo expensive!

I've researched studying at Southbank and a couple of other RTO's but feel that the schedule is better at MSIT. Also, the qualification from MSIT (unlike some, but not all RTO's) is recongnised by other universities if you want to progress to a Bachelor of Nursing (RN training) after you have achieved EN level the Diploma is easily recognised.

I'm going to the Alexandra Hills campus as I felt the location was better than the Logan one - they offer the course at both campuses. I guess you probably need to think about which campus is easier for you to get to.

In regards to teachers, I've had good and bad feedback about all of the TAFE's and moreso some of the RTO's.

MSIT have probably been the most professional in their communication by email and providing detail.

Good luck!

mark_lesley1995

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Sep 24, 2010, 02:13 pm

Hi Emmiej

I am at TAFE in Alexandra Hill now and I would DEFINATELY NOT recommend them. I am in my second semester and the organisation has been appauling. We have major problems with one of the teachers with many students, to the extent that a number of the students will be relocating to the Logan TAFE for our final semester.

If you are doing this part time, I would STRONGLEY recommend that you go straight into university and do your Bachelor of Nursing. Do not waste time doing your EN at TAFE. TAFE is a rip off and not worth the problems. Don't get me wrong. There are some really nice teachers on the nursing side, but I can't stress the lack or resources, efficiency & co-operation that you get at TAFE. They seem great when you make enquiries to join, but once you have, you get no assistance at all.

If you go to University to do your RN, if, after 2 years into the course you have had enough and don't want to go any further, you can still qualify as an EN and leave university and defer that year to a later year if you want. Well worth it and wish I had done it myself.

Sorry Moonbean, I know this might not be what you want to read either, but we all found the same on trying to find out the best way to go, and all of us have stated that we would NEVER recommend TAFE's as a form of education if we had been given the know-how first. I would also suggest to you to go to University if you can.

Good luck

moonbeam

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Sep 24, 2010, 06:46 pm

Hi Mark,

While not exactly filling me with confidence, I appreciate you taking the time to post your comments in regards to Alexandra Hills tafe. Are you a local student or international student? Do you know whats better at Logan TAFE than Alexandra Hills? Whats with the bad egg teacher???

To be quite honest I'm a bit nervous as my fee's for this course are $21,000 for the 18 months. International students really get done! and for that money I expect a quality course. Where do you see there being a lack of resources, efficiency, and cooperation?

Unfortunately I can't get into Uni for next year so was planning to do th Diploma of Nursing for 18 months followed by a shorted Bachelor of Nursing. Unfortunately things work different for international students.

Just out of interest how many people are in your class? Are many of the international students (I'm 35 yo guy from England)? What is the age range of the class?

Hope have a free moment to help out with my queestions, and good luck for the remainder of your course.

Cheers
Moon

i Emmiej

I am at TAFE in Alexandra Hill now and I would DEFINATELY NOT recommend them. I am in my second semester and the organisation has been appauling. We have major problems with one of the teachers with many students, to the extent that a number of the students will be relocating to the Logan TAFE for our final semester.

If you are doing this part time, I would STRONGLEY recommend that you go straight into university and do your Bachelor of Nursing. Do not waste time doing your EN at TAFE. TAFE is a rip off and not worth the problems. Don't get me wrong. There are some really nice teachers on the nursing side, but I can't stress the lack or resources, efficiency & co-operation that you get at TAFE. They seem great when you make enquiries to join, but once you have, you get no assistance at all.

If you go to University to do your RN, if, after 2 years into the course you have had enough and don't want to go any further, you can still qualify as an EN and leave university and defer that year to a later year if you want. Well worth it and wish I had done it myself.

Sorry Moonbean, I know this might not be what you want to read either, but we all found the same on trying to find out the best way to go, and all of us have stated that we would NEVER recommend TAFE's as a form of education if we had been given the know-how first. I would also suggest to you to go to University if you can.

Good luck

mark_lesley1995

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Sep 26, 2010, 07:04 pm

Hi Moon

Firstly, why are you an international student. Have you come here specificaly to study nursing, and if so, why Australia. I am also from the UK but am now a citizen. I need to understand your status in Australia to know why you are paying international fees and can't go to Uni straight away, when both my nieces did when they moved over.

The age is not an issue. We have students in our class from 20 to 60yrs old, so I wouldn't worry about that, and I am 48. So by comparison you are a spring chicken.

We started off with 30 students in the class. After 1st semester some moved to South Bank or Logan as it was closer for them, some failed and some just left because it wasn't for them. From our original class we have 13 left. (unlucky for some!) The reason some of us want to do our last semester at Logan is because we want to finish the course, and it would be better than haveing this teacher for 2 subjects and making our lives miserable for us.

The said teacher forgets what has been taught, talks about things in one class that are relevant for the other class they give. We were warned by the 3rd semester students not to expect to pass 1st time round because your assignments are always returned for resubmit. We have proved that some students have been marked wrong in a question and another right for the same answers. Overall, a NIGHTMARE. Everytime we have recieved work back from this teacher, we are all on tenterhooks because we never know what kind of mood she is going to be in! I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.

The Library is VERY poor with material/books for research and resources. The so called I T person is NOT very good at giving you help with I T problems. The students seem to know more about the PC's than she does. The reception help are not very friendly and have a typical "council" attitude. ie. shop closed when there is 1min to go, or pretending to look busy so the other person can help you.

There is one lady in the library who understands our frustration and trys to be helpful, but then she gets into trouble if she is caught!!!!

I know it doesn't build your confidence in wether you are doing the right thing, but I did all the reasearch for a year to find out. Unfortunately, no-one was truely honest with me and in hindsight, I would have choosen a different route.

Mark

moonbeam

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Sep 28, 2010, 09:12 pm

Hi Mark,

Thanks so much for your feedback.... quite unsettling really!

Unfortunately, I will be coming as an international student and paying the fees of an international student as I'll be coming on a student visa. I do not have permanent residency in Australia or citizenship. Unfortunately I can't get straight into Uni as (while I have an excellent career history in business) I don't have the academic qualifications to get a place in Uni first . Therefore I have to follow the route of achieving a Diploma of Nursing (15 months) and then entering the Bachelor of Nursing course for the last 2 years. This is probably the best route for me as at least in 15 months I'll be qualified as an enrolled nurse. What kind of visa's were your nieces on? International student fees are hellishly expensive! The reason I chose Australia as a place to study is, firstly to go for PR once I have qualified, a change of lifestyle (my late father used to live in Australia and I have also in the distant past and I loved my time there) and a better future!

Good to see the age range of the students. I was wondering whether I'd be the oldie in the front of the classroom!

I'm shocked at what you have written in regards to the teaching standards! Sounds outragious! Has anyone ever complained?, surely they must have? Are there any international students in your class? At $20,000 for the course I'd expect some decent standard!!! Just reading about your NIGHTMARE situation made me feel stressed! Surely someone must have tried to counter this teachers difficult side? Afterall, everyone in the classroom are adults and are paying in some way to be there.

Who does the lady in the library get into trouble with, if she is helpful!!!???

I have to say I am stuck for words, and am sat here wondering what step I should take next! Are all TAFE's like this? I do have the option to change my enrollment to Logan TAFE but thought against it due to the Alex Hills being in a better location for me.

When you got to the reception and they ingore you, cant you press a bell, knock on the counter, or at least clap your hands???....surely they'd notice you then? :-) haha

Look forward to hearing from you!

Moon

Mark

alyce21

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Oct 10, 2010, 06:55 pm

Hi, coming in a bit late on this post so not sure if you've already worked out what tafe you want to go to, but I thought I would recommend Southbank Institute of Technology. The Diploma of Nursing (Endorsed Enrolled Nurse) is an excellent course. The practical labs that you do are the same to what you will do at university, and the teachers are all currently practising RN's. Excellent facilities and resources and the teachers have high expectations. For example you're expected to have 100% on medications exams, just like you are at uni. Being tafe you get the chance of supplementary exams if you fail, which you don't get at uni. The courses in first semester (full time) also cover stuff that you would be studying in the Bachelor of Nursing first year, although of course not as in depth as the RN degree. It's a good course which you can do part time or full time, and you will be in high demand as an EEN. You will also be able to easily transition into the Bachelor of Nursing at any of the unis (not sure if this differs for international students but Southbank Tafe has a direct alliance with qut and will automatically offer you a place in the BN once you've completed your diploma). It's 18 months to do full time, or 3 years to do part time. Part time is definately a less stressful way to go, as the full time EEN course aims to really fast track you. If you plan to do the RN degree straight after though, I would recommend just doing it first up, as RN's get to do more than an EEN. But EEN's are excellent and are also in demand, plus it will knock off a year of your BN degree and give you experience. Most students at tafe are international students, you'll find that very few are Australians. I did the Southbank course for 6 months, as my initial plan was to become an EEN and see if I liked it before becoming an RN. But I decided that I really wanted to become an RN, and didn't like the pay up front thing with tafe (Australians still had to pay, and it was double the amount for international students which I thought was ridiculous). Plus as an Australian who had been to uni before studying something else, I found tafe assessments rather different from uni. Now I'm just completing my 1st year of a Bachelor of Nursing at Griffith, and if I have to compare the two I would say that uni is by far the better option. The teachers at uni really give you a lot more feedback and assistance than you get at tafe, particularly with written assessments the teachers know a lot more about academic writing and are more qualified in that area. Courses are well organised, with a lot of practical labs and hands-on stuff. The labs at tafe seemed a lot less structured to me than they are at uni, and the theory components were not as good. At tafe the teachers tended to just tell you to read the fundamentals of nursing textbook, whereas at uni you are given guided readings to do, plus proper lectures, tutorials and labs. Anatomy and physiology at tafe also seemed rather unorganised compared to uni, at uni we have labs where we can do dissections which helps to solidify your understanding. You also study a lot less A&P than what you're expected to know at uni, although this may be because EEN's don't need to know as much as an RN. The tafe teachers all said that with the uni nursing courses you get a lot less help and guidance, but I've found the opposite to be true. Southbank tafe teachers are great, and it is an excellent EEN course, but when compared to uni I think it is best to just do a Bachelor of Nursing if that's what you plan to do afterwards anyway. Uni is by far more superior to better your communication skills (written and verbal) and your ability to critically think, and does theory and academia better than tafe can. The only downside with uni is that you have to do some courses that are rather useless and kind of fillers, more academic subjects from disciplines like sociology and health promotion that aren't directly related to nursing, or subjects like research which are not exactly necessary unless you want to do postgraduate studies. Any of the unis in brisbane are excellent for nursing. Qut has the reputation of being the best, but griffith has an excellent nursing school in my opinion. Uq has integrated placement, which Southbank tafe is now bringing in I believe. That's where you go out on placement over the semester, rather than as a 1-2 week block. That can have it's advantages and disadvantages I think.

David Zillman

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Feb 17, 2011, 10:19 am

Oh Dear!

I'm afraid that you've been well and truly done over by the Australian (criminal) education racket. You should know Moonbeam that Tafe's used to be free. They were a service. To have TAFE institutions plying their credentials overseas is simply a laughable matter. I am a little baffled at why you would travel to Australia to study (at all places — a TAFE) at all. The Australian Education sector has been under the microscope recently for blatant profiteering — especially from impoverished third tier countries.

For a little perspective re: costs. The MSIT course is approx $2500 for the first semester for an Aus citizen. And roughly $7500 AUD for the entire course if there are no repeats/resits. In comparison in the Australian Capital Territory the whole course is $2500 and on top of that you have a 1 to 1 guidance officer when on prac. Not a 1 to 4 ratio or even a 1 to 12 ratio on first placement as was the case for most students on completion of 1st semester MSIT according to reports. To pay excess of $21k is absolutely mind-blowing. I am ashamed to be Australian (and especially a QLDer) when I look at what a greedy and corrupt society we have become to allow this in our educational facilities. Good Luck.

Schizo

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Feb 17, 2011, 05:43 pm

Moonbeam,

I am aware that you have already signed up for TAFE but seriously have you checked out doing a Uni course instead? Unis can accept life experience as a mitigating factor for lack of academic credentials...give it a go. Cost of TAFE and Uni is about the same.

Anyways...all the best in your endevours...:)

TafeRIPOFF

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Feb 22, 2011, 09:54 pm Last edited Feb 22, 2011, 09:54 pm update #2

I enrolled at a tafe course in electronics (certificate III) 3 weeks ago and i have to agree with mark and david.Im very dissapointed.First of all they offer the units they want according to demand ($$$) and we ended up getting 3 units about computers repairs and software when we were supposed to do electronics.Teachers never have a straight answer when you ask how long does it take to complete the course.In this tafe (lidcombe college chullora campus) they said it takes about 18 months but when i asked why in Port Macquarie the same course takes one year i got this answer : "Yeah well....Each college is wateva".Charming.Like one is gonna go to sit extra 6 months on a crappy college for nothing.The equipment is old,computers are compaq desktop from 20 years ago running windows 98.Seriously.Teachers always forget what we did the week before and what certificates are we doing!! Over and over,like it is a market or something.They just want to make sure they are putting everyone on the same units to maximise demand and fees.Without exaggerating,on a electronics servicing unit we are doing we are actually studying with guys that are almost finished,and we just started 3 weeks ago.Not the academic environment a student woukd expect from the "first world".They charged me $180 (sundries) for "books" which are handouts on computers from the year 2003 ( im not kidding) and for the OHS we got handouts from 1990!! On top of that,two computers on the lab are not working properly and they havent been fixed since we started,teacher knew but looks like they cant put 10 for two cheap cd drives from all the money they rip from international students.No wonder they dont do "student tours" on the tafe colleges before enrolling,people would then see how shitty everything is.When i came to the information session for my course i met a couple of grubby teachers that just wanted to get rid of me and get enrolled.I really dont know how people can come from other countries and pay 56k a year for uni or 10k for tafe when they could study in their own countries.I ended up here for various reasons and felt pressured to study at tafe because employers want everything.And by the way,we do have public unis where i come from,that is with $0 fees.Shame on australia,selling shit on their websites (out of date by the way,tafe courses codes supposedly changed but their websites show the old ones!) that is not what is received after paying the fees.Im not going back to tafe,it is a complete waste of time and money.I want my 530 dollars back!!!! By the way,just remembered today class finished 30 minutes earlier because the "dvd s' were not working".Teacher said "we ll do it next week guys".BTW,i also read rant about the Homesglen tafe on Melbourne.What the hell is going on Australia?Ripping people off everywhere!! Im goin to do uni in new zealand or im going back to my country,im very dissapointed from what i got at tafe.If any person wants to study at tafe i would say NO! Tafe is not the fucking MIT or Harvard.Save your money and get work experience while teaching yourself at home (in fact everything at tafe is so easy and out of date that can be found online or in books),or if the employer wants a degree or cert go to a really DECENT uni.Thanks for reading this rant,sometimes it is hard to read the truth but i needed to get this out and i feel sorry for people that enrol at TAFE!!!!!

modified: Tuesday 22 February 2011 10:08:39 pm - TafeRIPOFF

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