New courses attract students

January 23, 2008

So far this year, the University of New England has been able to offer more school leavers an on-campus undergraduate place than at the same stage last year.

The University's Director of Planning and Institutional Research, Dr John Kleeman, said that 1,488 offers had been made to date, including those for the inaugural intake of 60 first-year medical students at UNE under the Joint Medical Program in collaboration with the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health. The number of offers at this stage last year was 1,456.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew, said these figures boded well for "an exciting and constructive year" at UNE. "The introduction of 20 new courses in Semester 1 – including the Bachelor of Medicine course – will contribute significantly to that excitement," he said. "The new Bachelor's degree courses in Criminology, Psychological Science, and Theatre Studies are all attracting students, and have driven the overall offer tally up by 7.6 per cent in the area of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Sciences group of courses is up by 11 per cent (helped by the new Bachelor of Biomedical Science course), and Teaching is up by 7 per cent."

Professor Pettigrew said that University staff were now focused on facilitating the enrolment and re-location to Armidale of those who had received offers, or who would receive them in the imminent late and final rounds.

Many students have already enrolled. Among them are Gemma Moody from Yamba and Michaela Andrew from Wauchope who both gained early entry to UNE under the Schools Recommendation Admission Scheme.

Gemma, who is a champion surfer and Yamba's only female lifeguard, decided in her senior years at Maclean High School that she wanted to pursue a career in nursing. "I'm an active, sports-loving person," she said, "and nursing was rather a change in direction from earlier thoughts of becoming a physical education teacher."

UNE's Bachelor of Nursing course was her first preference. "I'd heard a lot of positive comments about the UNE nursing program," she said. "Then I visited the UNE campus on Open Day last September, and that confirmed my ambition to study nursing there. I decided then, too, on Robb College as a residence, and will be moving in to College on the 9th of February. I'll definitely be getting involved in Robb's sporting activities."

"At first I was a bit nervous about starting university," Gemma said, "but over the summer I've met quite a few people, on holidays in Yamba, who are studying at UNE – and even living at Robb College. And talking to friends who have successfully completed the UNE nursing course has reassured me."

Michaela decided last year to aim for a career as a high-school teacher of English and drama. "Those are my two main passions," she said, "and I'd like to be able to immerse myself in them, and then pass my enthusiasm on to others."

UNE's Bachelor of Arts / Bachelor of Teaching program was Michaela's first preference. She visited the campus last year with a group of students from Wauchope High School, and will be living – off campus – in the same house as a friend from Wauchope who started studying at UNE last year. "A few of my friends from Wauchope High are starting at UNE this year," she said, "so I won't be entirely surrounded by new faces."

She said an important consideration in choosing UNE was its rural location. "I didn't want to move to a city," she said. As it is, the move away from home is "exciting, but scary," she added. "It's like starting all over again."

Posted by Jim Scanlan at January 23, 2008 03:54 PM