Business Tops Uni Courses

Sun Herald

Sunday January 11, 2009

By LEESHA McKENNY lmckenny@fairfaxmedia.com.au

BUSINESS courses at NSW universities have weathered the economic downturn, with a rise in applications this year.

A record number of people have applied to study at NSW universities, University Admissions Centre data reveals.

With processing yet to be completed, 80,579 have applied, up almost 1000 on last year.

"The growth in applications could be due to this year's large year 12 cohort and an increasing emphasis on gaining qualifications in a period of economic uncertainty," UAC said.

At the University of NSW, the bachelor of commerce degree was second only to the combined bachelor of medicine-bachelor of surgery degree, based on first preferences as UAC applications closed last week.

It was followed by bachelor degrees in combined law, arts and fine arts, a spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for NSW's only other Group of Eight university, the University of Sydney, said there had been "extremely strong demand" for business courses compared with previous years and based on initial figures.

At Macquarie University, applications for business and economic courses were up 35.9 per cent, contributing to an overall jump in applications for all courses at the university of about 3 per cent. Commerce was also the second most popular degree, based on applications at the University of Wollongong.

Macquarie University assistant academic registrar Kathlyn Smart said universities would conduct simulations throughout this week to determine which students would be offered a first-round place on January 21, which could affect results. UAC will release main-round offers for all 2009 courses on January 21.

Despite the rise in applications, the proportion of those from non-school leavers remained consistent with those of the previous five years, at about 40 per cent of all applications, UAC figures showed.

"If Australians and our NSW sector was feeling the pinch on the scale of the international sector, I would have expected a much larger increase," Ms Smart said.

The surprise favourite at the University of Technology, Sydney, is law, with a rise in first preference applications of between 18 and 20 per cent.

"It seems when there is trouble in the economy, the conservative professions have been really strong," said admissions manager Pak Liu.

Most universities said there had been little indication students had responded to the Government's lowering of HECS loads for maths and science courses, but interest in teaching, nursing, engineering and allied health areas remained strong.

© 2009 Sun Herald

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