Bachelor of Nursing
at Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory.
An ANMAC-accredited nursing degree leading to registration as an enrolled or registered nurse with AHPRA. Includes more than 800 hours of supervised clinical placement across hospital and community settings.
ATAR cutoff history
Published cutoff data for the Charles Darwin University Bachelor of Nursing. We never invent figures; entries marked "not published" mean the university or admissions centre has not released a verified cutoff for that intake.
| Intake year | ATAR cutoff | Admissions centre |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | ATAR cutoff not published | SATAC |
| 2023 | ATAR cutoff not published | SATAC |
| 2022 | ATAR cutoff not published | SATAC |
No verified cutoffs are available. Confirm the latest figure on the official SATAC cutoff release.
Prerequisite Year 12 subjects
Brush up on each prerequisite with our state-syllabus explainers and dot points.
What you will study
Year one runs the nursing foundation: anatomy and physiology, bioscience, communication for nursing, primary health care and an early-stage two-week observation placement. CDU's Faculty of Health is one of Australia's largest providers of remote and Indigenous nursing education, with strong content on cultural safety, remote practice and tropical health. Year two builds clinical reasoning, pharmacology, mental-health nursing, medical-surgical nursing and two longer block placements. Year three delivers advanced clinical practice, leadership, complex care and a final 320-hour consolidated practice placement. Expect heavy timetables (24 to 28 contact hours during teaching weeks), practical OSCE-style examinations and rotating clinical shifts including night and weekend duties on placement. CDU offers full-time on-campus and a strong online mode with practical intensives at Casuarina and Alice Springs.
Example first-year subjects
- Anatomy and Physiology for Nursing
- Foundations of Nursing Practice
- Bioscience for Nursing
- Communication in Nursing
- Primary Health Care
- Indigenous Health and Cultural Safety
How you will be assessed
- Practical OSCE (objective structured clinical examination) skills assessments
- Closed-book final exams in bioscience and pharmacology
- Case studies and clinical reasoning assignments
- Placement supervisor reports and competency assessment tools
- Medication calculation tests (must pass to progress)
- Final-year capstone reflective portfolio and presentation
Placement and industry experience
ANMAC-accredited programme delivering more than 800 hours of supervised clinical placement (the regulatory minimum). CDU partners with NT Health (Royal Darwin Hospital, Palmerston Regional Hospital, Alice Springs Hospital, Katherine Hospital), community health centres, residential aged-care facilities and remote-community health services. Placement allocations include rural and remote rotations across the Top End and Central Australia. Students must obtain Working with Children clearances, criminal history checks, vaccination compliance and AHPRA student registration before commencing placements.
Career outcomes
- Graduates work as registered nurses in hospital, community and aged-care settings after registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
- Common destinations include public hospital graduate transition programmes, mental-health services and rural and remote nursing positions.
- Many alumni progress into specialty practice (intensive care, paediatrics, midwifery), nurse-practitioner study or clinical education roles.
Professional accreditation
- ANMAC accredited
- AHPRA registration eligible
Typical first jobs
- Graduate registered nurse (NT Health graduate transition programme)
- Remote-area nurse (Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations)
- Mental-health nursing graduate
- Aged-care registered nurse
- Community-health nurse
- Paediatric or maternity ward graduate nurse
After graduation
Graduates apply for registered nurse registration with AHPRA and enter graduate nurse transition programmes at NT Health (Royal Darwin, Palmerston, Alice Springs hospitals) and interstate. Postgraduate routes include the Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner), Master of Mental Health Nursing, Master of Midwifery and graduate certificates in critical care, emergency nursing, paediatric nursing and remote-area nursing. CDU has a particularly strong remote-area nursing postgraduate stream and Indigenous health pathway.
Is this the right degree for you?
You probably thrive here if
- You want a clear vocational path into a registered nurse role in the NT
- You can manage shift work, weekends and rural placements
- You are committed to cultural safety and remote-Indigenous health practice
- You can handle medication calculations and closed-book pharmacology exams
- You are organised, empathetic and resilient under clinical pressure
It is probably not for you if
- You dislike shift work, night shifts or weekend rosters
- You cannot meet AHPRA mandatory vaccination and clearance requirements
- You are squeamish about bodily fluids and clinical procedures
- You want a desk-based or research-only health degree
Related courses at CDU
Sources
Course details are summarised by ExamExplained, not copied from the university. Confirm course content and ATAR cutoffs on the Charles Darwin University handbook and on SATAC before applying. Page generated at https://examexplained.com.au/uni/charles-darwin/bachelor-of-nursing.