Charles Sturt University Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ross Chambers, has welcomed the announcement by Nicola Roxon, MP, of $2.5 million in new scholarships to enable allied health students to undertake clinical placements in rural or remote communities during their degrees.

Ms Roxon announced the scholarships while in regional NSW where she visited Charles Sturt University’s Wagga Wagga Campus to discuss rural clinical placements and review the progress of the University’s new dental and oral health facilities.

 

The funding will help students meet the travel, accommodation and living expenses of undertaking a rural clinical placement, and provides support payments for a student’s clinical supervisor and community contact while on placement.

 

“One of the big challenges for our regional health students is meeting the cost of completing their clinical practice rotations, which often requires students to travel to, and live in, smaller regional and remote centres,” Professor Chambers said.

 

“Encouraging regional students to undertake clinical practice rotations in regional and remote areas is critical to addressing the serious shortfall of qualified health practitioners across inland Australia. 

 

“Around 75 percent of Charles Sturt University’s on campus students who are from regional areas go on to practice in a regional location.  Supporting these students to complete their clinical rotations in regional settings is an important way in which the University works to increase the retention of health practitioners in regional and remote areas.

 

“This announcement by Minister Roxon will be warmly received by all Charles Sturt University regional health students whose goal is to return to their regional communities as highly skilled health practitioners,” Professor Chambers said.