Dubbo CSU students celebrate graduation at Regional Theatre and Convention Centre

"The challenges were there while we didn't have the support of our peers being out of campus for a long time. But the hardest is doing science without having the labs and that delayed our learning in many ways," Isobel Cahill, of Narromine, said.

Miss Cahill, Lucy Darney of Wellington, and Katherine O'Brien of Trangie were among nine nurses who finally received their diplomas with flying colours at CSU graduation ceremonies on Monday, December 5, at the Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre.

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They were among 67 graduates from the CSU Dubbo campus this year which included 18 teachers, 16 in allied health courses, six social workers, and five IT professionals.

"We had to work and study a lot harder at home to make sure we understood the science concepts," Miss Cahill, a nurse at Dubbo Hospital, said.

"It was a different experience for us students going into prac and we have to adapt [away from the lab] and still be able to learn things. I think we've been resilient," Miss Darney, a registered nurse at Wellington Hospital's acute ward, added.

Miss O'Brien admitted there were some times when she almost stopped her studies.

"It was a lot of hardships along the way, it took me seven years to complete my nursing degree and I almost give up [during the pandemic]," she said.

Their experiences during the pandemic are no different from the other students who did everything they could to complete their studies while away from campus and professors.

But studying for a degree in the healthcare field is "more challenging because we need to tick all the boxes before we get ticked off to work", Miss Cahill said.

Some of their fellow graduates were "so worried how they will get there" while obtaining the degree, and some have unfortunately delayed graduation this year and catching up, Miss Darney said.

Those pandemic experiences are now done and dusted and they are ready to join the healthcare profession, aware of the backlog in the region's workforce.

Miss O'Brien is a nurse at Westhaven and following her graduation, she plans to serve the outer west communities reeling from a staff shortage.

"It is harder for remote communities as they struggle a lot [to have sufficient health services]. It's a tragedy when we see communities like Bourke or Nyngan for instance going with fewer hospital beds," Miss O'Brien said.

Like the thinning number of doctors in regions, CSU vice chancellor Renee Leon said skilled nurses are also critically needed and it will be up to the health and education departments to increase funded study placements so that universities can properly train them for workforce vacancies.

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"We can source places for all students but it would help all universities if there were clear pathways for increasing placements in the health system, especially for regional universities," Ms Leon said.

"It is pretty inconvenient for regional students to go into the city [for] their placements. We want to help students keep their love for studying in the regions and keep their connections and then go and fill the vacancies in our regional workforce."

CSU campuses are graduating 2,200 students this year and next year, an additional 1,000 students are coming in for placements.

Ms Leon said 200 new placements would become future teachers and nurses in regional areas.

"It's the piece we need for government, universities, and health systems to work together to fill those critical vacancies in the workforce," she said.