Jane Metlikovec
November 19, 2007 12:00am
FASHION design and computer game development are among the state’s hottest university choices for school leavers next year.
Many school leavers are choosing non-traditional university courses over old-timers such as engineering and marketing.
The Herald Sun has obtained a list of the top 10 preferences for 2008 from five Victorian universities.
About 72,000 Victorians have applied for university or TAFE in 2008 — a 4 per cent drop on this year.
The wide-ranging Bachelor of Arts is still the most popular choice for Victorian students.
But streamlined courses such as fashion design, biomedicine, criminal justice administration and architecture have experienced a surge in popularity.
More than a quarter of Monash University’s 300 IT applications are for multimedia games development, a 25 per cent increase on last year.
Monash lecturer in 3D and game theory Derrick Martin said students were aware Australia’s $1 billion games industry was growing.
An Australian company has just won the contract to produce the game for
the US movie blockbuster Sin City, while a number of Melbourne mobile phone games businesses are thriving.
A Shrek game was also recently produced in Mitcham.
“Interest in the degree has boomed because of the growing games industry in Australia,” Mr Martin said.
“Students are getting into it because they see it as a field where they can be creative, and also where they can develop technical skills.”
Mr Martin said the transportable nature of the job also appealed to students.
“There is a lot of mobility. You can produce games anywhere and send them all over the world,” he said.
RMIT’s Bachelor of Design (Fashion) was the university’s third-most popular course behind business and architecture.
Fashion lecturer Sue Thomas said the course — which had produced a number of famous designers including Toni Maticevski — was now receiving applications from all over the world.
“We have an established reputation for excellence and creativity, and have been voted by Wallpaper magazine as one of the top six fashion courses in the world,” Ms Thomas said.
She said she was not surprised the four-year course, which takes more than 50 students a year, had experienced a surge in applications.
St Albans Secondary College year 12 student Sarah Musiov won a third place in the 2007 PaintRight Victorian Fashion Awards for her purple and white jumpsuit design.
Sarah, 17, would like to get into event management or fashion design at university.
“I really like the excitement of the fashion industry,” Sarah said.
From: Herald Sun, Australia
