The Melbourne Model continues to get a big tick of approval from Australian students as the University’s tertiary offer outcomes reflect growing demand.
Just over 5700 excited students received the offer of a Commonwealth-supported place to study at Melbourne in 2010 in the Victorian Tertiary Admission Centre’s first round offers.
Nearly 5000 or 87 per cent of the University’s offers for this year are for the New Generation degrees – Arts, Biomedicine, Commerce, Environments, Music and Science.
Provost Professor John Dewar says the increased demand and consequent rise in ENTERs for courses such as Arts, Science and Biomedicine is a strong endorsement of the New Generation degrees and the Melbourne Model.
“It is quite clear that students have embraced the Melbourne Model,” he said.
And responses from the students themselves show this is true.
“Absolutely stoked,” was Torie McWilliams-Murray’s excited response when asked how she felt about receiving the offer of a place at Melbourne as an New Generation Arts student in 2010.
Torie’s particularly interested in studying art history and taking up a language from beginner level though she hasn’t decided which one yet. She acknowledges that University will be a big change from Swan Hill College, but that’s what starting at University is all about – exploring all your options.
“Stoked” is also the way that Luke Plant described his feelings at being accepted into the Bachelor of Biomedicine. He chose the course because of the broad range of possibilities it opens up to him. He can’t decide between Medicine and Physiotherapy, so Biomedicine is the ideal course at this time.
Luke chose the University of Melbourne because, as a member of the University’s Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars program, he has spent time on campus and now “just likes the feel of the place”. This hopefully will assist in offsetting any culture shock in moving to the University from Newhaven College in Cowes.
His sentiment is shared by fellow Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholar Katherine Petros. “I just feel like I belong here,” she says.
As a brand new Environments student, she is looking forward to continuing Japanese language studies as her breadth subject, to going on exchange through Melbourne Global Mobility, and she is considering studying Architecture as a graduate.
“I’m also really excited about learning in a new way, going to lectures.” she says.
Former P-12 Laverton College student Dat Cao is on his way to being a health professional in the western suburbs with the offer of a place in Biomedicine and an Access Melbourne Scholarship.
“I’d like to be a doctor or dentist,” he told the Star newspaper. “I want to help people who are disadvantaged in their health.”
Wangaratta High School graduate Jackson Harnwell told the Wangaratta Chronicle that he was really excited to receive an offer for the Bachelor of Music. “It’s a great university.”
Girton Grammar student Sophie Chandler says getting her first preference of Biomedicine – with an ENTER of 99.75 – means she will have time to decide on a specialty.
“It’s three years – and then I can go into medicine, anything else in health sciences, or even journalism or law.”
Four of the New Generation courses at Melbourne are represented in the five most popular courses – based on first preferences – in the VTAC system.
Arts at Melbourne continues to top the ‘pop polls’ with its ENTER moving up from 88.3 to 89, and 1636 offers – an additional 100 offers on 2009.
Increased ENTERs for New Generation science-based courses – Biomedicine and Science – follow a sharp rise in first preferences (up 45 per cent and 32 per cent respectively) after the December change of preference
This exceptional demand has resulted in increased offers and an ENTER for Science of 89.05 up from 85 in 2009 and 97.90 for Biomedicine from 95 in 2009.
Dean of the Faculty of Science Professor Rob Saint is delighted with the growing popularity of the Bachelor of Science.
“Despite national concerns about a decline in students embracing science, students are flocking to the Melbourne Model approach to Science which offers strong employments outcomes on graduation plus clear pathways to graduate study in Engineering, a range of Health fields and Veterinary Science.
“Science is vital to Australia’s nation-building and these students will be fine contributors to the future well-being of our society.”
There have also been increased offers for the New Generation Bachelor of Environments degree and Bachelor of Commerce at Melbourne.
Access Melbourne is also a success story. A University priority is to broaden the mix of its students from diverse backgrounds. In November, to encourage more students from rural and financially disadvantaged backgrounds to study at Melbourne, the University announced guaranteed ENTERs into New Generation degrees.
This year Melbourne has made 25 per cent of offers to students who applied through Access Melbourne with large increases in offers to rural and financially disadvantaged applicants.
Professor Sue Elliott, Deputy Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for access and equity, says these are high-quality students who have experienced educational disadvantage during their schooling. “The undergraduate experience at a good university is a level playing field where students from all backgrounds have the opportunity to flourish,” she explained.
The University’s success in the 2010 student selection extends to graduate programs such as the Master of Teaching which has made 17 per cent more offers this year – a total of 849 – following a similar rise in demand.