UNIVERSITY ADMISSION OFFERS

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:16): My question is to the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills. Could the minister advise the house how many students have been made offers to go to one of our three South Australian universities this year now that the final round of offers have been made?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:16): I thank the member for Little Para for this question. This is a very exciting time for many thousands of young South Australians, and, like me, I have no doubt that all members are aware of young people in their communities or in their family who finished school last year and had been waiting to find out if they were accepted into an undergraduate course at either Flinders, the University of South Australia or the University of Adelaide.

I am sure that all members agree that we are very fortunate to have three outstanding public universities in South Australia that offer world-class teaching and research opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds. In recent weeks, I have become even more aware of just how effective our major universities are in working closely with other research institutions and with industry, importantly, providing students with the best educational opportunities and experiences.

I can advise that SATAC, the South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre, recently made 19,120 offers to students to study undergraduate courses at these three universities. Whilst this is a slight increase on last year's offers, I am particularly pleased to note that there have been some significant increases in students taking up studies of strategic importance to our state. For instance, the biggest growth has been in the natural and physical sciences courses. There were 1,869 offers or thereabouts made for these fields of study, a more than 13 per cent increase compared to last year.

In fact, I am very pleased to note that of the total offers, more than 18 per cent were in courses related to STEM (that is science, technology, engineering and maths), a 5.1 per cent increase on last year. This is a fantastic result. I am very pleased that more and more students are looking to the sciences and related fields, because science skills and knowledge are critical to our state's long-term future as a smart, capable and innovative place for the future.

Our vision for South Australia is an ambitious one. We want to see highly skilled, productive jobs in areas like advanced manufacturing and food processing. We want to preserve our state's position as a world leader in agricultural and biomedical research, and I am heartened to see that more young people are taking up the opportunities that these subjects will afford them. I take this opportunity to commend our three major universities.

In fact, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome very formally the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Australia, Professor David Lloyd, who has recently joined us I think from Trinity College in Dublin. I have had the opportunity to catch up with him, and South Australia is abuzz with his entree into this sector.

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett gets the 15^th question of the day.