Abstract:
In 1992, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) launched a series of initiatives aimed at standardising the credit transfer arrangements that Australian universities used when processing university-university and TAFE-university student transfers. Nursing was one of the areas of study targeted for investigation. The initial phase of the nursing credit transfer project resulted in a pilot scheme for university-university credit transfer in 1994, and a recommendation that there was no need for a national scheme for TAFE- university credit transfer for nurses. This paper reports on aspects of the second phase of the nursing credit transfer project, the phase that investigated credit transfer arrangements for applicants to university nursing courses who had qualifications and/or experience from the hospital/health sector.
The principal focus of this paper is the methodology of the nursing credit transfer study. It describes the two different approaches that were used to obtain data about the credit transfer policies and practices of Australian universities, and discusses the difficulties that were experienced in obtaining and verifying the accuracy of these data. The paper highlights the inconsistencies in the approaches that Australian universities use when determining credit transfer policies and when translating those policies into decisions about individual students. The methodology will be of interest to anyone engaged in research that attempts to reconcile the policies and practices of academic institutions, particularly as they relate to student admissions and credit transfer.
The principal focus of this paper is the methodology of the nursing credit transfer study. It describes the two different approaches that were used to obtain data about the credit transfer policies and practices of Australian universities, and discusses the difficulties that were experienced in obtaining and verifying the accuracy of these data. The paper highlights the inconsistencies in the approaches that Australian universities use when determining credit transfer policies and when translating those policies into decisions about individual students. The methodology will be of interest to anyone engaged in research that attempts to reconcile the policies and practices of academic institutions, particularly as they relate to student admissions and credit transfer.