In what could be the first higher education-related shot in an as-yet-uncalled election campaign, Australia’s government has promised to help fund a Queensland initiative to fast-track regional teenagers into careers as doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals.
Education minister Jason Clare the federal government’s pledge of A$80 million (?39 million) towards an Academy for Health Sciences was about “strengthening the pipeline of key workers that regional Queensland needs”.
“I’m glad that the commonwealth government can contribute to help make this a reality. It’s a great example of two governments working together...to help make sure that young people in regional Australia get the skills they need to produce the doctors and the nurses and the ambos and the health science professionals that we need now and that we’re going to need in the years ahead.”
His announcement surfaced less than 18 hours after the Labor government handed down its federal budget, which funded almost no new measures for Australia’s higher education sector. A federal election is due by mid-May, with the poll date expected to be revealed by prime minister Anthony Albanese within days.
The proposed academy would allow high-achieving senior school students to gain credit towards university health science degrees, under a yet-to-be-finalised agreement with Central Queensland University (CQU).
Students would enrol in the academy via competitive entry and connect with health workers, researchers and academics while completing their final three years of secondary school.
Queensland’s recently installed premier David Crisafulli committed A$95 million to the project three weeks before he won last October’s state election. The academy would be the newest in a of professionally oriented public high schools for academically gifted students undertaking the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme.
The three existing schools focus on the creative industries, health sciences and STEM fields. They are located in Brisbane and Southport, in Queensland’s heavily populated south-eastern corner, and were established over 15 years ago in partnership with Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology and the University of Queensland (UQ).
The new academy would be the first regional member of the network, although its site in Rockhampton – some 600 kilometres north of Brisbane – is yet to be chosen. Central Queensland, like many other Australian regions, is experiencing an acute shortage of doctors and other health professionals.
CQU said it looked forward to working with the state and federal governments on the “exciting” initiative. “榴莲视频grown graduates are the future of our local health workforce and this academy will help more students stay, study and forge their careers in Central Queensland,” said vice-chancellor Nick Klomp.
“Given the demand for health workers right around the country, this is an incredible opportunity to build our local workforce pipeline so that we can deliver the services our community needs.”
CQU its biggest-ever intake of first-year medical students this year. It credited “record demand” through the Regional Medical Pathway programme, a collaboration with UQ and two Queensland health services, which enables students to complete their entire medical training in the bush.
