Student Participation in Nursing Programs: a Study of their Social Composition Since the Transfer to Colleges of Advanced Education in New South Wales

ABSTRACT

This paper compares the social origins of 400 nursing students in hospital‐based and 448 nursing students in college‐based programs in New South Wales. Using a specially constructed composite socioeconomic variable for comparison, the preliminary analysis suggests that a middle class bias, presumed to exist by some in the selection of recruits to hospital‐based programs, does not operate in the selection of college recruits. The soundly equitable college recruitment pattern is more marked for females than males. There is a greater proportion recruited to college programs from the group who have delayed entry for more than ten years after leaving school. For students entering directly from school, no significant difference was found in the composite socioeconomic variable in hospital and college programs. The findings also suggest that college programs are more attractive than hospital programs to males entering directly from school.