Bond University’s most popular courses for 2024 indicate students may be reacting to future job trends, with four of the top seven degrees related to the care industry.
The tripling of the Australian population aged over 85, projected in the federal government’s 2023 Intergenerational Report, will drive demand for doctors, physiotherapists, exercise and sports scientists and other healthcare professionals.
Queensland is already experiencing a shortage of health workers, meaning graduates are likely to be in demand when they complete their accelerated Bond degrees in as little as two years (excluding doctors who graduate in four years and eight months).
Many of these students will be trained at Bond’s state-of-the-art health precinct at Robina where a major extension opened this year.
The most popular undergraduate courses for 2024
Bachelor of Biomedical Science
Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science
Bachelor of Psychological Science
Bond University offers Queensland’s only Actuarial Science degrees which prepare students to work in data analytics, finance and banking.
Actuaries traditionally worked in the insurance industry predicting the risks of making claims payments, or in superannuation calculating anticipated investment returns.
But the masses of data now being collected by almost every business -- and the opportunity to interpret and monetise it -- means actuaries are branching out across a broad spectrum of industries.
A degree not among the top seven but trending upwards for 2024 is Project Management.
Again, this may reflect future job opportunities, particularly in Queensland which is experiencing a housing crisis and gearing up to host the 2032 Olympics, requiring billions of dollars in new infrastructure.
Salaries for some in-demand construction industry jobs have almost doubled in a few years, recent research from Bond University found.
Junior contract administrators with only two-years’ experience could command up to $140,000, compared to $80,000 a few years ago.
Project managers with five to seven years’ experience could earn up to $220,000.
The most popular postgraduate courses for 2024
Graduate Diploma in Psychology (bridging)
Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice
Master of Occupational Therapy