Domestic students lodge record number of university applications

Domestic students are applying to university in record numbers as the effects of coronavirus hit institutions and scholars alike.

Adelaide University has received record numbers of applications from domestic student hopefuls, as the COVID-19 unemployment crisis prompts more people to turn to study.

While there remains a challenge to get international students back from overseas for 2021, the pandemic has, in particular, driven a huge rise in interest from locals in the health sciences.

Adelaide University said there had been record demand for both its undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

A spokeswoman said as of Thursday, it had received 9868 first-preference applications via the SA Tertiary Admissions Centre, up 18 per cent on the same time last year.

“The local market is up statewide but only by 9 per cent, indicating significant growth in market share,” she said.

Most of the university’s growth were in well-established programs in business, commerce, medicine, health and medical sciences and psychology. IT applications were up 112 per cent and computer science 46 per cent.

Flinders senior deputy vice-chancellor Clare Pollock. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

The university’s new allied health courses in physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech pathology have attracted 285 first preferences, accounting for about one-fifth of its overall applications growth.

The university has built new facilities to teach allied health, including simulated learning equipment.

It said students in the three disciplines would do some subjects together to “understand what each profession does from the beginning”.

UniSA and Flinders University did not provide specific application figures, but both said demand was strong.

Flinders said it had received its largest ever year-on-year rise in applications for nursing and midwifery. Also in its list of most popular courses by first-preference applications were medicine, medical science, psychology, nutrition and dietetics, and optometry, along with social work and perennially popular primary teaching.

Flinders senior deputy vice-chancellor Clare Pollock said COVID-19 had highlighted the importance of healthcare, and students were “reading the signs and seeing that this is likely to be an area of substantial employment growth”.

Professor Pollock said there had been a 20 per cent rise in applications for management, commerce and engineering courses, and “double-digit rises” for health and education courses. UniSA said it was too early to give specific figures but it expected domestic student numbers to rise next year.