Queensland’s Top 20 uni courses revealed

As Queensland’s Year 12 students receive university offers we can reveal the state’s most popular courses.

Health careers have topped the charts for Queensland Year 12 students as thousands yesterday received offers to the state’s universities.

It comes as hundreds of students move to study at TAFE, with graduates saying they opted to avoid the stressful and heavy workload of university.

Out of the top 20 courses offered yesterday, 13 were in health, with over 3300 offers made across the field.

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Over 9800 offers were made to Year 12 students by Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC), with a Diploma of Nursing at TAFE the most popular with 269 offers, followed by Griffith University’s Bachelor of Nursing with 172 offers.

The results are in stark contrast to offers made this time last year, with the top two courses being engineering and business at the Queensland University of Technology.

TAFE has reported a 14 per cent increase on 2019’s intake in the health field alone, with acting chief executive John Tucker saying it was a result of the pandemic highlighting the need for medical workers.

“Since the pandemic TAFE Queensland has seen many career changers come to

study health from a variety of backgrounds as health and nursing roles are seen as

fulfilling and rewarding career path,” he said.

“The most popular health courses are Nursing, Individual Support and Health

Services Assistance, but we are also seeing an increase in enrolments in Health

Administration and Allied Health Assistance.”

QTAC Acting chief executive Raylene Boulter said the latest offer round takes the total number of offers made to Queensland students to 24,659.

“After a year where there has been a spotlight on physical and mental health, it is inspiring to see the next generation of students focused on wellness coming through,” she said.

QUT’s Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) was third place with 169 offers, followed by University of Queensland’s Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Biomedical Science.

Business and Natural and Physical Sciences also rounded out the top 20 courses.

It comes after social researchers and universities saw a rise in students choosing to pursue their passions, with medicine even more popular than previous years in some of the state’s earlier offer rounds.

Ashleigh Quinn will be studying nursing at Southbank TAFE this year. Picture: Richard Walker

Stuartholme graduate Ashleigh Quinn, 18, who opted not to go for an ATAR, said the choice to study nursing came about after COVID and wanting to help people.

“COVID helped uncover my passion for taking care of people, after seeing so many suffer due to the pandemic,” she said.

“After seeing several family members fall ill over the course of a couple of years and making many trips to the hospitals, the thought of university slightly overwhelmed me and I thought I would struggle, so when I found out about the option of going to TAFE, I was intrigued by the hands on training available as I believe I would have struggled with the immense workload at university.”

Ms Quinn, who also completed a Certificate 3 in early childhood and care last year, hopes in five years’ time to be working in a children’s hospital.

Offer rounds continue throughout January and February, while those who received an offer yesterday have until 4pm Tuesday 19 January to respond.

INSTITUTION COURSE OFFERS

1. TAFE Queensland Diploma of Nursing 269

2. Griffith University Bachelor of Nursing 172

3. Queensland University of Technology Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) 169

4. The University of Queensland Bachelor of Arts 149

5. The University of Queensland Bachelor of Biomedical Science 133

6. The University of Queensland Bachelor of Nursing 133

7. James Cook University Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery 115

8. Queensland University of Technology Bachelor of Business 115

9. Griffith University Bachelor of Business 111

10. Queensland University of Technology Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Laws (Honours) 104

11. Australian Catholic University Bachelor of Nursing 102

12. The University of Queensland Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) 90

13. The University of Queensland Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) 85

14. The University of Queensland Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) 84

15. James Cook University Bachelor of Nursing Science 83

16. Queensland University of Technology Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Psychology) 83

17. Queensland University of Technology Bachelor of Biomedical Science 83

18. The University of Queensland Bachelor of Science 81

19. Griffith University Bachelor of Physiotherapy 79

20. The University of Queensland Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours) 77

OFFERS MADE BY BROAD FIELD OF EDUCATION:

Field of Education Offers

• Health (e.g Pharmacy, Veterinary Science, Naturopathy, Speech Pathology) 3,337
• Society and Culture (e.g. Law, Economics, Psychology, Sport & Recreation) 1,846
• Natural and Physical Sciences (e.g. Mathematics, Physics, Laboratory Technology) 1,235
• Management and Commerce (e.g. Hospitality Management, Banking & Finance) 1,004
• Engineering (e.g Chemical, Automotive, Civil, Aerospace, Biomedical, Surveying) 637
• Creative Arts (e.g. Music, Graphic Design, Communication & Media Studies) 546
• Education (e.g. Early Childhood, Primary, Secondary) 415
• Architecture and Building (e.g. Urban & Regional Planning, Interior Design) 346
• Information Technology (e.g Computer Science, Programming) 280
• Mixed Field Programmes 92
• Agriculture, Environmental and Related Studies (e.g. Land, Parks & Wildlife) 65
• Food, Hospitality and Personal Services (e.g. Beauty Therapy)