Australians living in regional, rural and remote areas face challenges accessing healthcare.
This lack of access often results in poorer health outcomes compared to people living in metropolitan areas and is partly attributed to health professionals choosing to relocate to metropolitan regions in the early stages of their career.
A key strategic priority for the School of Health at the University of the Sunshine Coast is to offer pathways to nationally recognised professional health programs for students from our region to build our capacity to deliver healthcare for our regional communities.
A proposed pathway for aspiring health professionals in our region
We know that students who come from regional areas to undertake their health studies are more likely to stay on and work in regional areas after they graduate.
It is with this in mind that UniSC has introduced a new admission pathway to ensure suitably qualified and talented local applicants have a pathway to study high demand health programs at UniSC.
The Regional Health Workforce Scheme complements existing sub-quota-based schemes including the Rural Access Scheme and the Indigenous Medicine Access Pathway Program (IMAPP) which target priority cohorts for admission to the Bachelor of Medical Science.
Eligibility:
The Regional Health Workforce Scheme addresses the under-representation of local students in some of the University’s professional health programs through a sub-quota for domestic students who:
- Applied as a domestic applicant and satisfied the entry requirements for the respective program
- Obtained a minimum ATAR/selection rank as specified
- Resided in one of the following approved Local Government Areas for at least five consecutive years or ten cumulative years:
- Sunshine Coast Regional Council
- Noosa Council
- Gympie Regional Council
The Regional Health Workforce Scheme will only apply to the following programs in the first iteration in 2025:
- Bachelor of Medical Science
- Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours).
Additional programs will be considered for the scheme from 2026 onwards.