Nurses who may have left the workforce but are keen to return are encouraged to apply for the next intake of a Registered Nurse Re-Entry to Practice Course offered by distance education, with online study.

This CQUniversity course can arrange clinical placements in the applicant's home region.

CQUniversity academic Dr Patrick Keleher's eye-boggling keynote presentation highlighting the ‘key competencies for global practitioners' certainly got people talking recently. It was delivered at the Duale Hochschule - Baden-Wurttemburg (DHBW) Ravensburg Co-operative State University's Ravensburger Industry Conference.

When UNESCO, the World Health Organisation and Fortune 500 companies embrace something you just know it's going to catch on elsewhere.

The 'Communities of Practice' concept got a foothold in the Australian tertiary education sector several years ago and has been growing ever since.

Representatives of the Australian Dental Association (Qld branch) recently toured Rockhampton Campus facilities that support the Bachelor of Oral Health program at CQUniversity.

Dr Greg Moore, a local dentist and member of the ADA Rockhampton Branch, helped transport and guide the visitors to the campus, where they saw the Dental Clinic and Oral Health Simulation Laboratory.

Yeppoon's Rebecca Clarke will soon join a contingent of CQUniversity Nursing and Midwifery students in a remote community in Nepal, where they will lend a hand at a local hospital, rural health camps and outreach clinics..

CQUniversity and BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) are encouraging students interested in 'non-mining' disciplines to apply for the 2013 BMA Community and Indigenous Scholarship Program.

These scholarships are designed to attract students who demonstrate the need and desire to contribute to their local region.

CQUniversity graduate Alain Mangan has experienced a 'rollercoaster of a life' and he's had TV cameras along for the ride in recent years..

"Seeing kids in the hospital recovering after surgery, seeing them smiling and playing, I know they have a chance at a better future," says CQUniversity Nursing graduate Hannah Strawson, who is back in Brisbane after serving as a volunteer with Mercy Ships in Guinea, West Africa..

CQUniversity has taken delivery of a fully-functioning ambulance to add realism when Paramedic Science students carry out simulated scenarios.

The John Villiers Trust* Teaching Ambulance has been set up in line with ambulance services throughout Australia, so students will get a feel for working in a functional vehicle before going on clinical placements.

For thousands of years, men travelled away from their families under the hunter-gatherer system, which was a Walk-In-Walk-Out version of the Fly-In-Fly-Out and Drive-In-Drive-Out systems favoured by mining companies.

The difference today is the lack of social support networks available to the families.