STAFF and students at La Trobe University are encouraging regional health students to study and stay local.<\/p>\n
Vice-chancellor Professor John Dewar said about 70 to 80 per cent of their students will practice in regional Victoria and that it\u2019s important to maintain that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe needs of the regional health workforce are every bit as intense if not more intense than they are in the metropolitan areas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Professor Dewar said the university\u2019s applicants are exceeding the number of places they can offer.<\/p>\n
The university\u2019s biomedical science course, for example, has 15 places available each year out of 300 applications, and Professor Dewar said they \u201cdesperately need to increase that number.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe desperately need students who want to commit themselves to being nurses, physios, occupational therapists, doctors in regional settings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe medical training places are very tightly controlled by government so we don\u2019t have nearly as much freedom, as we do in just about every other discipline, to enrol students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping we can get some more places next year when an additional 80 medical places will be allocated nationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will certainly be putting our hands up for more of those to come to Bendigo.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 3000 students are enrolled in about 14 different disciplines at La Trobe\u2019s Bendigo campus.<\/p>\n
Regional education commissioner Fiona Nash visited the campus last week and said its important regional universities are supported.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really are influential institutions. They make massive social and economic contributions to our regional communities. I think we really need to value that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sanjana Jijo, a first-year Bachelor of Biomedical Science student at La Trobe, has lived in Bendigo since moving from India at four years old.<\/p>\n
She said there\u2019s a \u201csense of belonging\u201d to working within a regional community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really want to give back to those communities and that\u2019s why over time I really want to come back to help that rural workforce,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope my connection to these communities and understanding that workforce that brings us together will make me hopefully be a good doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STAFF and students at La Trobe University are encouraging regional health students to study and stay local. Vice-chancellor Professor John Dewar said about 70 to 80 per cent of their students will practice in regional Victoria and that it\u2019s important to maintain that. \u201cThe needs of the regional health workforce are every bit as intense […]<\/p>\n