By Abbey Cannan
The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed students to think more practically into which jobs are essential, with the most sought-after degrees at USC this year in the health-related disciplines.
The most popular degrees include Nursing Science, Paramedic Science, Occupational Therapy, Biomedical Science and Clinical Exercise Physiology, followed by Primary Education, Psychology and Business.
Head of School for the USC School of Health and Behavioural Science, Professor John Lowe, said there was a distinctive reason why health-related degrees were the most popular this year.
“The raised awareness of health and what it can be doing, in combination with the ability to get a job when you finish, including the fact that the job won’t be eliminated no matter what kind of health problems we have in the country, are the motivators for students to sign up for a career in a health profession,“ Prof Lowe said.
Prof Lowe said the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that when there is a catastrophic event, health professions are maintained.
“We need them, so they’re not as susceptible to catastrophic events as other jobs are.“
He said there were plenty of jobs in the health field to keep up with the demand.
“Not all students will be able to stay on the Sunshine Coast immediately, there’s a lot of individuals that have seniority, Queensland Health for instance, that if a job opens up on the Sunshine Coast, there’s a long queue of people wanting to come back,“ he said,
“I tell students that you have to go out and work in a rural area for 12 to 18 or 24 months and then move back.
“Students that are going into a Bachelor of Medical Science, that are from the coast, will stay on the coast, because there will be enough jobs at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital for them to continue to practice.“
Prof Lowe said the ability of USC to attract international as well as national quality academics, in combination with the programmes that now have excellent reputations Australia-wide, are the reasons why people are choosing to study health at USC.
“We will continue to expand and look at additional programs each year,“ he said.
“We recently just got our prosthetics and orthotics degrees accredited nationally, so we have the only under-graduate program in this in Australia, right here at USC.“
