Well, it looks like the international students who seemed to have missed out are going to be sorted for a training place... this year. Not sure how the state govt is going to find places for them to train given that one idea is to find interstate positions and all of the states are in the same boat. However, this is great news and must be a relief for those students who found themselves in this position.This situation came as a surprise to most overseas students, but it's been in the wind implicitly for a couple of years and explicitly since the document I showed below entered the public domain months ago. Perhaps this change to scarcity of jobs is such a cultural shift that no one even considered checking to see what the actual situation was.
Whatever the case, I've spoken to some justifiably angry and upset people this week. For some students, by heading to Australia they have given up on their rights to be trained in their home country and so they fall between two stools.
Personally, I think the med student council should take more of an active role: it is at least their respsonsibility as much of that of the university to look after the interests of the student body and to make sure that students are aware of this sort of thing.
The next few years will see this problem get worse and for all students to be affected. This doesn't seem to be appreciated by the student council: I would say that at this time this body has a significant task ahead of it probably for the first time in memory (judging from my experience) and need to get active now.
For the time being, perhaps pub crawls and international student social nights may have to have a lower priority.
Hey, I am an Australian citizen studying MBBS in the UK and I will probably do at least one year of training in UK after graudating (2013). Do you think I have a chance to continue in NSW after that? Will the state prefer me or the non-Australian citizens who studied in USyd and UNSW?
ReplyDeleteHmm... not sure what the post-internship environment will be but I would suspect it will be challenging for anyone looking to parachute in (just like it may be for me if I fancy heading back to the UK).
ReplyDeleteHowever, your major competitors for registra positions will be the local med school tsunami-ites, not the non-Aussies all of whom will have had to have return home by then, the way things are playing out.
I'm keen to apply to USYD for 2011. The lack of internships is rotten news but doesn't put me off completely. Does this affect NSW or the entire country?
ReplyDeleteThe whole country. I really can't see the point of applying to USYD (or any Australian med schools) as an overseas student unless you have a very good other reason to do so.
ReplyDeleteThat said, good luck with your application!