More choice for school leavers as second round uni and TAFE offers released

Just under 14,500 Victorian school leavers have been given second-round offers to start university and TAFE courses. Search our database for each name.

A second round of Victorian university offers has been released. Picture: David Crosling

Just under 14,500 Victorians opened up an email inviting them to study the course of their dreams on Friday morning, when the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) released its first round of offers for the year.

Almost 40 per cent of students who received offers from dozens of institutions this round celebrated their results by agreeing to share them publicly, with a full list available via the Herald Sun’s searchable database.

Monash University provided the most offers to the 5736 students who gave permission to have their offers published, followed by the University of Melbourne and RMIT.

Private institutions such as Collarts, JMC Academy and independent beauty school Elly Lukas also rolled out a small selection of offers to hopeful students who listed them among their first preferences.

William Angliss Institute, Box Hill Institute, Kangan Institute and Melbourne Polytechnic were also among a number of TAFEs that provided offers to students this round.

Science was the most popular area of study among those who received offers, with 579 students invited to enrol into a degree.

Dozens of students also received offers to study a double degree in science alongside teaching, veterinary medicine, engineering or arts.

There were also 508 offers rolled out for nursing degrees, diplomas and VET courses, with some students opting to pursue a double degree in midwifery, psychology and paramedicine.

Arts, law, engineering and biomedicine were also popular fields, with more than 300 offers made for each area of study across the institutions.

Victorians that received offers on Friday join almost 50,000 year 12s from the class of 2023 who received offers in December for 1301 Victorian courses across the higher education, vocational education and training sectors.

For some graduates, receiving an offer this round was a second chance to score a ticket to enrol into their most-preferred course, while others received a back-up offer and now must consider which course they’d like to take.

Abigail Lang, Lucien Marcel and Tahlia Guzzardi have all been accepted into Medicine at Monash University. Picture: David Crosling

Meanwhile, for 609 International Baccalaureate diploma graduates, today was the first time they could receive offers after obtaining their results last week.

Mature aged applicants and those who applied for courses that weren’t involved in December round offers were also eligible to receive an offer on Friday.

VTAC CEO Teresa Tjia said receiving an invitation to enrol into tertiary studies was an exciting next step for students’ education journeys.

“Ninety-one per cent of our applicants this year have received at least one offer, with four offer rounds still to come,” she said.

“This is a fantastic outcome for both students and tertiary institutions.”

Australian Catholic University

ACU made slightly more than 850 offers to Victorian students this round, with courses in nursing, teaching, occupational therapy, and exercise and sports science the most popular.

These students join thousands of other school-leavers who received offers in the December round, including more than 1000 people from regional Victoria.

Acting provost professor Chris Lonsdale said places in occupational therapy were extremely competitive, while physiotherapy, psychology, nursing, paramedicine and midwifery were also in high demand.

“Popular courses with a lower ATAR threshold include the arts degrees which have seen a surge at ACU Victoria this year, along with the combined degrees in psychological science and criminology,” he said.

“Education remains as popular as ever at ACU, with increased interest in early childhood and primary teaching specialisations for 2024.”

Deakin University

Nursing was the most sought-after course among school leavers who applied to study at Deakin in the January offer round, with the university making 2024 offers.

Deakin University senior deputy Vice-Chancellor Liz Johnson said it was pleasing to see increased interest in the field as “health professionals are crying out for more skilled practioners”.

“We look forward to welcoming our new 2024 Deakin cohort to orientation activities at our campuses in Melbourne, Geelong and Warrnambool next month,” she said.

“If you did not receive an offer today, you may be eligible for a supplementary offer. You might also like to check the other courses listed with VTAC and change your preferences.”

Monash University made a total of 3959 offers this round. Picture: Richard Serong

Monash University

The university made a total of 3959 offers this round spanning across 167 courses.

Areas of study that required an ATAR of 90+ include courses in law, biomedical science, physiotherapy, and a number of advanced honours programs, to name a few.

A Monash University spokesman said those who missed out on an offer this round might still be considered in future rounds.

“While it is not guaranteed that all courses will make offers in future offer rounds, many courses do so there is still a chance for an offer to start university in 2024,” he said.

RMIT

First round January offers were made for all of RMIT’s programs across vocational and higher education.

A university spokesperson said: “demand for RMIT programs remained strong in the January round and we have retained an overall increase in offers for the semester one intake.”

Swinburne University of Technology

Tech-focused courses such as cyber-security were in high demand among those applying for a course at Swinburne, followed by architecture and health.

Pro Vice-Chancellor of future students Bronte Neyland congratulated those who received offers on Friday.

“Swinburne will continue making offers until February, so we encourage students to adjust their preferences to secure their place and to explore alternative pathways into a degree,” she said.

Victoria University

After offering 2498 students the opportunity to study at the university in December round offers, an additional 640 university hopefuls were invited to enrol this round.

While the majority of these offers were for higher education, Victoria University (VU) asked 47 students to study vocational education this year.

A packaged pathway in beauty therapy and dermal sciences was the most popular TAFE course while Victorian Institute of Teaching accredited education courses were most popular among those wishing to go to university.

“At Victoria University, we believe an ATAR doesn’t necessarily give us an insight into a student’s drive, commitment, passion or personal skills, or the challenges they faced in year 12,” a spokesperson for VU said.

“We know there is more than one way to succeed at learning. This has been VU’s approach for several years, with outstanding results achieved by our students.”