UQ remains number one for tertiary applicants

The University of Queensland has remained the number one destination for applicants seeking admission to courses through the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre.

The University attracted 12,050 first preference applications to its courses, compared with 11,089 first preference applications for the second ranking Queensland institution.

Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay said the University made 7896 offers in the January 14 major round and a further 478 offers in this week's final QTAC offer round.

Based on current acceptance figures, the University expects to admit 6300 first year students through QTAC and have a total student enrolment of more than 29,000.

"UQ remains the first choice of the overwhelming majority of Queensland's most outstanding applicants and, if anything, the competition for the most sought-after courses is intensifying," Professor Hay said.

Final information on the enrolments generated by QTAC offers will be known in April. In general, Overall Position (OP) scores required for admission to individual quotas this year were very stable.

At the St Lucia campus, there was strong demand in the broad field of Business Management, Commerce and Economics. The minimum score accepted for entry to Business Management and Commerce was OP6, with an expected enrolment of 650 students. The cut off score for Economics rose from 8 to 7. Demand for Science was steady, with an increase in the cut off score from OP8 to 7, while Engineering softened slightly from 7 to 8. Arts had an unchanged cut off score of OP10.

Minimum scores required for entry to the most sought after specialist professional courses remained at the very high levels of previous years. An OP1 was required for entry to Veterinary Science, OP2 for Law, Pharmacy and Physiotherapy; and OP3 for Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology. However, for some of these courses there were insufficient places available for all of those on the cut off scores to gain entry, with marginal selection criteria being applied.

The most attractive courses to OP1 school leavers were in general science and engineering. Offers were made to 93 OP1 students in Science and 86 in Engineering.

Professor Hay said the total intake at UQ Ipswich from this admissions round was expected to be 500, including places in the graduate entry Bachelor of Education, against the 845 places available. "This level of admissions represents a considerable increase on the number admitted last year. Further opportunities for entry to Ipswich will be available mid-year," he said.

Further information: Jan King, telephone 3365 1120.