By Michael Newhouse
VICTORIA University expects to fill more than 200 new government-supported places in nursing and education courses for 2007, after last week’s first-round university offers showed demand for the two highly sought-after courses far outstripped supply across the state.
Last week Victoria University announced its St Albans campus would offer 80 new Commonwealth Government supported HECS(Higher Education Contribution Scheme) nursing places – 40 for general nursing and 40 for mental-health nursing.
The increase in the number of nursing places at the university, which were announced last year, comes as more than half of the people applying for nursing across the state missed out on first-round HECS offers. The university will also offer 150 additional education positions at its other campuses, including Sunbury, Footscray Park and Melton.
Victoria University’s vice-chancellor, Professor Elizabeth Harman said she was “delighted” with the increase in offers it expects to make this year, which have jumped from 4,100 offers in 2006 to 4,300 in 2007.
The equivalent national tertiary entrance rank (ENTER) scores for courses at the university’s St Albans campus were relatively stable, with the arts clearly in first round score steady at 55, nursing at 62.4, paramedic at 72.85, and professional writing at 61.20.
Victoria University last year repositioned itself in the crowded education market, introducing its ‘New School of Thought’ mantra, which mandated that one quarter of a student’s learning will be done on the job, or in the outside community, and not in the classroom.
Across the state almost 20,000 students, or more than a third of total applicants, missed out on a first round university offer last week.
Victoria’s Skills Minister, Jacinta Allan used last week’s first-round offers to attack the number of Commonwealth Government funded places on offer, saying the figures were a “blow for Victorian business and industry” and would lead to essential skilled jobs being unfilled.
