About Us
The Graduate Entry Nursing New Zealand and Australia Collaborative (GENNZAC) aims to establish a set of core guiding principles related to Graduate Entry education and workforce. The principles will be developed from the shared priorities of the students, academic faculty, nursing stakeholders, regulators, researchers and policy makers. The work of this collaborative is to support achievement and outcomes of GEN programmes while also ensuring outcomes are meaningful and relevant to the New Zealand and Australia health workforce.
Our Research
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Our research is concerned with tailoring Graduate Entry Nursing programmes to meet the specific needs and expectations of a mature postgraduate cohort as they simultaneously pursue Masters level study and a professional degree.
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We are interested in better understanding and developing recruitment strategies for these highly specialised programmes in order to capture the attention of motivated individuals. We hope to understand how to retain these high quality students to ensure successful graduation from the programme as a means of building a strong, highly skilled nursing workforce.
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Research Aims
Our research aims to expand the existing literature base to garner a fuller understanding of the needs and experiences of GEN students. This not only has the opportunity to improve teaching but can also assist in adding to the workforce of future nurses at an increased pace in order to keep up with both the local and global demand for experienced, intelligent and highly motivated nurses within the profession. This research is an ongoing project with a projected total of seven studies, with three of these studies published to date.
About Graduate Entry Nursing (GEN)
Graduate entry nursing programmes are an alternative and intensive pathway for graduates to enter the nursing profession. These programmes are now evident globally, including New Zealand, Australia, North America, and the United Kingdom, just to name a few, ranging from five in New Zealand to 64 in the US offering diversity in programme lengths between 18 and 36 months. These programmes are one way of addressing persistent nursing workforce shortages as these graduates are more likely to stay with their first employers after 12-months. Despite this value, graduate entry nursing students face unique challenges such as experiencing, and needing to overcome, negative stereotypes. Exploring the experiences and perceptions of graduate entry nursing students is an evolving area of research that has the potential to inform the development of curricula.