La Trobe University increased its first-round offers by 11 per cent this year, however the number of students who received offers to study at its Mildura campus dropped by almost 9 per cent.
The federal government’s move to abolish the cap on enrolments this year was designed to lift the number of people with a tertiary education.
And as a result, universities across the country have made a record number of offers.
But La Trobe’s Mildura campus director Neil Fettling said it was too early to predict the long-term trends under the demand-driven system.
“Certainly the growth at regional campuses is not going to be as strong as in the city – that is clear, at least for this year,” he said.
Over the past three years, tertiary places offered at the Mildura campus have risen by 12 per cent.
However, early offers have fallen by 12 places this year – from 144 in 2011 to 132 in 2012.
Mr Fettling said that in reality the drop was much less – about 3 per cent – if the seven students who were last year given direct entry to La Trobe after completing a course at Sunraysia Institute of TAFE were discounted.
Mildura Senior College graduate Breanna Garreffa has enrolled in La Trobe’s Bachelor of Business, majoring in accounting.
The 18-year-old said her course would complement her cadetship at the Mildura branch of accounting firm WHK.
“I wanted to stay with my family,” she said.
“I live in Euston, so I’m moving up here, which is kind of nerve-racking.”
Breanna said she was confident of receiving an offer through VTAC.
“I didn’t really think about it – I just wanted to put it at the back of my mind because I was still waiting at that point to see if I got the cadetship,” she said.
Mildura student Georgia Madden, 20, will also begin the next phase of her education at La Trobe this year, after completing a two-year Diploma of Children’s Services at Sunraysia Institute of TAFE.
The St Joseph’s College graduate said her previous study experience would take a year off her Bachelor of Education, allowing her to enter the workforce sooner.
“At first I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to live here or away – but living at home was a chance to still work and save, and I always loved children so I decided to do my diploma and go from there,” she said.
According to Mr Fettling, offers for Mildura’s health and education courses were strong this year, consistent with the growth experienced across the state.
But the university’s Bachelor of Visual Arts grew the most, after experiencing a “dip” last year, he said.
“The surprise this year was social work is a little down,” he said.
“We introduced social work as one of the founding courses at the campus, thinking with Mildura’s social demographic we’d need trained, qualified, professional social workers and that has been very strong, but there’s been a bit of a plateau.
“So we’re looking forward to getting some second, third, fourth and direct offers in there.”
While education, business and accounting students have begun enrolling at the Mildura campus, the university is still taking direct applications for some courses.
To find out more, visit www.latrobe.edu.au or contact Rebecca Cameron on 5051 4000.
For more of this story, purchase your copy of Monday's Sunraysia Daily 30-1-2012.
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