The EX2004 cohort had a higher degree of nursing students with an immigrant background than the EX2002 cohort (8Æ8% vs. 5Æ5%) and the EX2002 cohort had a higher degree of nursing students with working class background than the EX2004 (46Æ3% vs. 40Æ1%). Nearly 60% of the nursing students in EX2004 had previous experience of healthcare work compared with 53% in EX2002. Thirty per cent of the students in EX2002 were stressed about their career choice compared with 22% in EX2004 (Table 1).