Bachelor of Midwifery

Take part in the most significant event in most people’s lives by training for a rewarding and challenging career as a midwife.

The Bachelor of Midwifery will combine your talent and dedication with the skills you need to provide holistic care for a woman and her child during pregnancy, childbirth, and early infancy. You will gain a grounding in midwifery theory and practice, primary healthcare, women’s health and psychosocial sciences. You will be equipped to work in multi-disciplinary teams and in partnership with women to contribute to healthier outcomes for mother and baby.

Placements in this degree give you the opportunity to follow the journey of women throughout their pregnancies and support them and their diverse needs to experience the full range of midwifery practice.

Graduates of this program will be able to register and practice as midwives across a range of settings, including public and private hospitals, clinics and as midwifery educators.

Career Opportunities

Registered midwives may practice midwifery in various capacities in public and private hospitals and community, maternity and neonatal healthcare settings in urban, rural and remote areas. They can practice as group practice midwives, clinical midwifery consultants, midwifery educators, midwifery unit managers, community midwives, researchers, and as independent midwives (with further training). They can work in any state of Australia and in New Zealand.

Professional Recognition

The Bachelor of Midwifery is approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia and provides the necessary qualification for graduates to be eligible to register and practice as a midwife in Australia.

Further training is required to work as a privately practicing midwife.

[Please note: In order to register to practice, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency [AHPRA]’s standards for the English language must be met. See the AHPRA website for further information.]

Professional Placement

Students are required to undertake about 1,000 hours of supervised placements that will enable them to focus on woman-centred care and provide continuity-of-care with women throughout their pregnancies; attend antenatal and postnatal assessments/visits with women; provide direct care to women during labour; assist women during birth; support women and their babies with diverse needs across pregnancy, labour and birth, and the postnatal period; and experience the full scope of midwifery practice.

Please be aware labor and birth can be unpredictable and occur at any time of the day or night. Therefore the continuity-of-care component in the program requires you to be ‘on call’. The professional experience rostered placement may occur ‘away’ from your campus and place of residence. Students are responsible for any cost incurred for travel and accommodation.

Professional experience placements require students to fulfill certain pre-requisites prior to attending any placements (e.g. a working with children check and National Police Certificate). Prior to applying for this course, please consider the important information regarding these requirements.

Major Areas of Study

Studies include:

• Anatomy and physiology

• Midwifery theory and practice

• Primary health care

• Psychosocial sciences

• Women’s health.

Assessment methods

Students complete a wide variety of assessment items during the course including written exams, oral exams, academic writing, clinical and practical exams.

Teaching methods

The course is underpinned by an innovative, experiential learning curriculum focusing on woman-centered care in practice. The course features a variety of clinical and community experiences, which will expose students to the varied aspects of midwifery practice resulting in graduates able to function to the full scope of contemporary midwifery practice.

Facts, figures, rankings and awards

Southern Cross University is a progressive, young and connected regional research university, with vibrant campuses in northern New South Wales and the southern Gold Coast. We offer undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and many are available in a dynamic online form. Whether studying on-campus, online, or both, we deliver exciting, contemporary and high-quality learning experiences.

Why SCU?

Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 20Bold, progressive and just 23 years of age – Southern Cross University is one of the Asia-Pacific’s Top 100 Universities and one of the world’s Top 50 Generation Y Universities .

Our contemporary campuses, with purpose-built state-of-the-art facilities, are located on the east coast of Australia, at the Gold Coast in Queensland, and in Lismore and Coffs Harbour in New South Wales. All are unique regions renowned for their natural beauty and ecological diversity, providing living laboratories for learning and creative hubs for artistic endeavour.

Branch campuses in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth are operated in collaboration with EduCo on behalf of Southern Cross University. The University also operates The Hotel School Sydney and Melbourne in partnership with Mulpha Australia. We also deliver degrees with collaborators in China, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

We have a large and diverse range of courses available online, offering interactive and immersive learning experiences wherever our students are.

Whether studying on-campus, online, or both, we deliver exciting, contemporary and high-quality learning experiences.

We aim to produce graduates who are career ready, world ready and digitally literate, and who experience an academic environment distinctive for its personal approach.

The University has a strong focus on industry and community collaboration to produce engaged teaching and research outcomes.

This connectivity is seeing Southern Cross University lead the $13.8m national Farming Together Pilot Program, partnering with the Northern Rivers Co-operatives Alliance and the Australian Government. The University has also introduced an important new Centre for Organics Research with the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

In the latest Excellence in Research for Australia report, Southern Cross achieved outstanding ratings of 'at world standard' or above in 24 research fields. In nine research fields, the University was evaluated at the highest possible classification of 'well above world standard'. This was achieved in the fields of Geochemistry, Oceanography, Environmental Science and Management, Zoology, Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Crop and Pasture Production, Forestry Sciences, Nursing, Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Campuses

Southern Cross University is a vibrant, contemporary Australian university with beautiful campuses on the Gold Coast, Lismore and Coffs Harbour.

Sydney, Melbourne and Perth branch campuses (International students)

Southern Cross University's branch campuses at Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth are conveniently located in the central business districts.

Studying at SCU Sydney, Melbourne or Perth gives international students the opportunity to complete undergraduate or postgraduate degrees in three of the world's most liveable cities. Southern Cross University collaborates with EduCo Sydney Branch Pty Ltd for the operation of the SCU Sydney, Melbourne and Perth branch campuses.