Nursing course in Canada

Q.I intend to do my Master's course in Nursing from a University in Canada with an intention to settle there. What are the prospects of this course? I have done my BSc Nursing here and have 2 years of experience in a hospital.

A. If you have the money needed for this, it can be a game changer for your career. Master's in Nursing programme in Canada prepares Nursing post-graduates to be leaders. Programme completion would open new horizons for you in education, advanced practice, policy implementation, health care management, and nursing knowledge development. 

MSc graduates develop skills in leadership in professional nursing practice. It prepares students for employment in the public or private sector, or to pursue further studies in a PhD. programme. Graduates occupy leadership positions within numerous health authorities in Canada and the international community, as well as teaching positions in colleges and universities.

 Another variation of this could be MSc programme in Health Sciences. This includes Addictions Counselling, Health Sciences and Nursing. Many Universities have designed it to satisfy the needs of students interested in pursuing a master's degree in a health-related area wherein students come from a variety of health care backgrounds including, but not limited to, public health, therapeutic recreation, addictions counselling, nursing, and psychology.  

The IELTS overall score requirement is 7.0, Reading 6.5, Writing 7.0, Listening 7.5 and Speaking 7.0. 

For September 2020 deadline, most of the reputed universities will accept applications till end of November 2019, with a Transcript/ Referee deadline of December 2019. 

You will need to budget around Rs 25 lakh towards fees and cost of living. Please do all your correspondence paperwork directly with the University. For Visa formalities, you can register with your gckey for an IRCC account at  https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/study-canada.html.  

Consider the cost factor

Q. If university education in Germany is free and good, then why doesn't everybody go there to study?

A. Education in public schools and public universities in Germany is free on the face of it, but in primary and secondary school, most school books school supplies are not free. Public universities levy mandatory fees for the Studentenwerk (services for students). 

In many States, tuition fees for non-EU students are levied. Most states levy tuition fees for students who take significantly longer to complete the programme than the standard duration. Free tuition just means free tuition - there are no amenities such as recreation and lodging that would be included in the fee of fee-paying schools and universities in other countries. Living cost itself would be Rs 75,000 per month. 

Your biggest monthly expenditure will be your rent. However, rents in German cities vary widely. Students pay between Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000 per month for accommodation depending on where their higher education institution is located. In some large cities such as Cologne, Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt am Main, rents are higher than the average.

Private schools and private universities are quite another story. There are even more significant costs to students in Germany.

The catch for international students is, that, if you stay in Germany and work here, you will repay that through your taxes. Language is something here you have to consider carefully. Almost all programmes are taught in German. The German taxpayer doesn't care that German might be a difficult language for foreigners to master. No one will do you the favour of switching the seminar language to English, just so you can understand something.

Last but not the least, don't forget the opportunity cost of the time in education.

The writer is chief mentor, Maven