Australia’s ageing population has pushed more potential university students towards allied health courses, the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre's 2019 offers have revealed.
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In addition, more than 12,000 allied health jobs will be expected to be created by the National Disability Insurance Scheme in Queensland.
QTAC offers to prospective Queensland university students were released on Wednesday morning.
Health and allied health courses make up almost one-third of the courses chosen by 16,334 prospective university Queensland students in 2019.
Business courses were the second-largest group of courses chosen.
QTAC chief executive John Griffiths said the demand for allied health workers in disability, mental health and aged-care sectors was driving the demand for health courses.
“While traditional health programs like medicine and nursing remain sought after, there is a trend toward courses leading to health careers that support patients through a variety of therapeutic, diagnostic and technical services,” he said.
Dr Griffiths said 43 per cent of potential students would receive their first preference when offers came out on Wednesday.
Further offers will be made on January 25.
Dr Griffiths said many courses still had vacancies and students should not lose hope if they did not receive the first offer on Wednesday.
“Many courses still have vacancies, so if you didn’t get an offer today or have changed your mind about the course you want, there is still time to change your preferences,” he said.
University of Queensland associate professor David Solnet said the biggest driver towards allied health careers was Australia’s ageing population.
“The health area is a massively growing employment area,” he said.
“Certainly with the demographic change and the ageing population it is a hugely growing area.”
Associate Professor Solnet said he was not surprised business courses were also attractive to young students in 2019.
“I think that is where jobs are, so that seems a very obvious thing to me,” he said.
The Productivity Commission reviewed Australia’s future workforce and found healthcare and social assistance jobs were in high demand until 2022.
It predicted a 24 per cent growth in allied health and social assistance jobs, helped by the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The NDIS is expected to create more than 12,900 jobs and inject an additional $2.5 billion into the Queensland economy.
In November, Jobs Queensland predicted most jobs growth in Queensland would be in three areas: healthcare and social assistance; professional, scientific and technical services; and education and training.
The Anticipating Future Skills report predicted almost 50 per cent of new jobs would be created in these three areas over the next decade.
It found that management and commerce were projected to remain the largest field of education in 2022, followed by health.
Bachelor-qualified workers were projected to make up more than one-third of all new qualifications.
Dr Griffiths said university applicants should reply to their offers by 9am on January 22.
“Check the QTAC website for information on course vacancies and key dates,” he said.
