Faculty of Health professional experience activities

Arpan Kuwar an international student studying Nursing wearing a white lab coat and sitting in a lab looking a model of a heart at Southern Cross University Lismore Campus
Young nurse with new mother and baby

Professional experience activities are an exciting part of your degree, letting you experience what it's like to work as a professional in real-life situations.

Compulsory professional experience gives you the opportunity to integrate theory with practice, further develop your skills through supportive professional environments and gain essential working knowledge of current industry practice.

Depending on your discipline, some professional experience activities occur throughout your degree while others happen in your final year.

Preparing for placement

As a condition of any type of professional experience - including placement, volunteering, laboratory work, research, or community-engaged learning - you are required to provide evidence of your compliance and health protection before participating in any of these activities. Note:

  • Student compliance is a mandatory, legislative and regulatory requirement;
  • To be able to attend placement, you must be compliant; and
  • You must meet the requirements of both Southern Cross University and the external organisation.

This will ensure the safety of yourself and others.

Learn more about professional experience hours and activity Learn more about student compliance requirements Learn how to use SONIA Frequently asked questions

Meet SONIA

SONIA is the professional experience activity database for students. This is where you will:

  • View your compliance requirements and upload your compliance evidence.
  • View information about your placement facility, start and end times and supervisor.
  • Submit timesheets and placement evaluation forms.
  • Track your placement hours and progress towards your course competencies.
Login to SONIA

Professional Experience Unit

Having a successful placement is an important step in completing your degree. The Professional Experience Unit (PEU) team in the Faculty of Health is here to support you.

If you require further information or need assistance you can email the Professional Experience Unit or call them on +61 7 5589 3439.

Email PEU

About SONIA

SONIA is the University's placement and compliance database. Your SONIA account will be activated once you’re offered a place in a course.

What is SONIA used for?

  • Compliance requirements need to be uploaded to SONIA
  • Important vaccination and compliance requirement documentation is available from SONIA
  • Vaccination and compliance requirement status can be checked in SONIA via the CHECKS tab
  • Placement allocation and facility information is available in SONIA
  • Placement assessment documentation is available from SONIA.

How to access SONIA?

Instructions to upload documents to SONIA 

  1. Log into SONIA and click on the CHECKS tab
  2. Add/upload each document to the corresponding check in SONIA by selecting Browse
  3. Please make sure you SAVE and SUBMIT