October 24, 2022

UOW welcomes announcement of additional student places

Funding for 936 new places to meet skills shortage in nursing, teaching, clean energy and cyber security

University of Wollongong (UOW) Vice-Chancellor Professor Patricia M. Davidson has welcomed the announcement of an additional 936 student places at UOW as part of the Federal Government’s commitment to fund an additional 20,000 university places in areas of critical skills needs.

The Minister for Education, the Hon Jason Clare MP announced the funding this morning (Monday 24 October). The additional places have been allocated in education (including early education teachers), nursing, IT, health professions, engineering and other areas of skills shortage.

The additional places will be allocated to students under-represented at Australian universities including those from poorer backgrounds, Indigenous Australians and students from rural and remote Australia.

UOW was among the top five universities nationally in terms of places allocated. The additional places, worth $29 million, will be for students starting next year and in 2024.

Professor Davidson said courses offered by UOW align with the Government’s skills priority list and focus on increasing participation for regional and remote students, those from low socio-economic (low SES) backgrounds, students with a disability, First Nations students, and those who are first in family to study at university.

“This funding will enable more students in our communities to benefit from a world-class university education and will deliver back to those communities and to industry the highly skilled workforce that they need,” Professor Davidson said.

“Our curriculum is designed to meet the changing needs of industry and our communities, ensuring that students from underrepresented groups have greater opportunities to gain access to and succeed in higher education and that our graduates are job-ready for occupations facing national skills shortages and strong future demand.

“Our regional campuses in Liverpool, Loftus, the Shoalhaven, Southern Highlands, Batemans Bay and Bega make higher education more accessible to many, while pathways to our undergraduate degrees are provided by UOW College Australia’s Diploma courses.

“UOW is ready and able to start training more nurses, clean energy leaders, school teachers and cyber security specialists and engineers to meet skills shortages and industry needs.

“We thank the Federal Members for Cunningham, Whitlam, Gilmore, Eden Monaro, Werriwa and Hughes for their support and strong advocacy on behalf of the university sector and, importantly, regional NSW.”

The allocation of additional places at UOW builds on and complements the Government’s commitment to fund a $10 million Energy Futures Skills Centre at UOW, which will address the skills shortage in clean energy, with funding details expected to be included in the Budget on Tuesday.

The Energy Futures Skills Centre is a regionally significant initiative is intended to design and deliver courses to train and reskill the clean energy and clean manufacturing workforces of the future. New courses will be co-designed with the aim of an equitable energy future in partnership with TAFE NSW and industry.