Health workforce and engineering: Where job opportunities will likely be

University leaders have revealed what courses would make a student most employable. See what the jobs of the future are slated to be.

Robots, virtual reality and working remotely are elements of industries that 25 years ago would have seemed like a fever dream.

But these days they are three things becoming frequently used in the vernacular.

Flinders University this year celebrates 25 years in the NT, and although times have changed the importance of training up employable students remains the number one priority.

Thanks to development in technology and the creation of online video conferencing, tertiary degrees and short courses have become more accessible.

For Flinders, a focus on increasing the health workforce in rural and remote areas of Australia means adapting to changes, including using robotic equipment and virtual reality to teach.

Two of the university’s leading professors reveal what they think the jobs of the future will be.

HEALTH WORKFORCE

Nursing, allied health, speech pathology, occupational therapy and general practice are areas the Territory and the whole country is needing staff to fill jobs.

Flinders University Rural and Remote Health NT and SA Dean Professor Robyn Aitken said attracting workers to the NT was a key pillar of medicine courses they offer.

“There are always jobs we can’t fill — It’s really really critical,” she said.

“The Territory’s own population is not enough to sustain a health workforce.”

She said especially in remote areas across the Territory there was a real need to increase training already offered and get workers there.

“They would be educating the workforce for jobs there that are falling out,” she said.

A paramedicine course was introduced to the university in 2021, and although the uptake has been modest so far, there were big plans for the course.

Flinders University paramedic students Florence Chambers and Jamie Spencer. Picture: Floss Adams.

“There is potentially a need for paramedics having an expanded role in the Territory that you don’t get anywhere else,” she said.

“So the future for that course will involve looking at where can paramedics do more than be on the road and how can they be working in our clinics?” Prof Aitken said.

ENGINEERING

Flinders University Vice Chancellor Colin Stirling said engineering was another industry of growth in the foreseeable future.

“Anyone with an engineering qualification is going to walk into a job in almost all areas of engineering across the country,” he said.

“Even just the shipbuilding projects that are on the books at the minute are going to require thousands and thousands of new engineers in the next five to 10 years.”

Mr Stirling said it was important to think about that when putting down preferences for subjects for school students.

“The key thing is that students need to do maths in school and sometimes that’s a challenge,” he said.

According to Indeed, there are currently more than 100 jobs listed for an engineer in the Northern Territory.

The job search engine lists an average income for an engineer as about $102,000.

VISUAL EFFECTS AND DESIGN

Something that has experienced an astronomical rise in popularity and importance is being able to produce visual effects for entertainment.

Flinders University runs a course called Visual Effects and Entertainment Design that Mr Stirling said produces international award winners almost every year.

“It’s a program that skills students in being able to do CGI graphics and graphical arts —

it’s not just computer games, it’s every TV show you watch, every movie.

“They get jobs with Technicolor, with Disney,” he said.

Mr Stirling said over the next few years the industry would need more and more workers.

“There aren’t enough visual effects artists in the world to make even just the TV shows that are on the books for this year, so anyone with those skills are very employable,” he said.

Originally published as Health workforce and engineering: Where job opportunities will likely be