12 January 2012

Ipswich and Gatton are proving to be popular centres for higher education with The University of Queensland (UQ) recording increased demand from students wishing to study at the campuses in 2012.

Offers for UQ programs at Ipswich rose by 17 per cent, with 715 offers made to students applying to study Nursing, Midwifery, Arts, Health Sciences and the new program of Paramedic Science.

UQ Director of Planning, Ken Richardson, said UQ made 91 offers for the inaugural intake for the Bachelor of Paramedic Science at the University’s Ipswich Campus.

“UQ’s Nursing program also continues to perform strongly and is attracting exceptionally high quality students, which reflects the program’s excellent reputation for training,” he said.

Mr Richardson said that offer numbers were also up 4 per cent for degree programs at the Gatton Campus with 572 offers made to students in Veterinary Science, Applied Science, Agricultural Science and Agribusiness.

Overall, UQ has made 10,169 offers to first-year undergraduate students in the Queensland Tertiary Admission Centre (QTAC) rounds - 8482 offers in today’s round (January 12) and 1687 offers last December.

Mr Richardson said the number of offers made for this time of year was up marginally from last year’s 9874 offers.

“Demand for UQ programs is generally higher than last year and first preference demand remains strong across all our faculties,” Mr Richardson said.

“Our OP cut-offs have remained stable except for a handful of programs, including Engineering and dual-degree Engineering programs, which experienced a 12 per cent increase in first preferences. Due to greater competition for admission to Engineering programs, the entry cut-off has jumped one point from OP6 to OP5.”

Mr Richardson said programs in Nursing, Midwifery, Information Technology, Multimedia and Design had also recorded pleasing growth in the number of first preferences.

Students have until January 20 to respond to the January 12 offer round. UQ will make further offers in the February 9 offer round.

For further dates, visit the QTAC website.

Media inquiries: Kathy Grube, 07 3346 0561.