School students get head start at uni

USQ Head Start student Jennifer Aspinall was presented with a certificate by USQ Fraser Coast School Liaison Officer Tas Webber

There won’t be any anxiety about career choices for one group of Year 12 students from the Fraser Coast region.

The students already know what they will be doing when they leave school. In fact they have already started their university degrees.

Fourteen students from schools in Hervey Bay and Maryborough completed the Head Start program at USQ Fraser Coast last year.

And that has enabled them to start the new school year with the satisfaction of knowing they already have entry to USQ to study the degree of their choice.

Seven of the students last year completed a science subject at USQ which puts them on the path to becoming qualified nurses with a Bachelor of Nursing degree.

Two did data analysis, three did Psychology and two studied an Education subject in order to start their teaching degrees.

Year 12 Fraser Coast Anglican College student Jennifer Aspinall received a distinction for the Biology course she studied at USQ last year.

The USQ Head Start program gives senior students the opportunity to start a university degree while still at high school.

USQ Fraser Coast School Liaison Officer Tas Webber said students as young as 15 were now able to start a university degree.

'It’s a great feeling for these students to be starting off their final year of school knowing that they have already attained entry to university.

'Head Start students study one, maybe two, university courses while they are still at school. The first course is free and if they pass the course they get automatic entry to USQ and get credit for the course.'

Tas has been visiting local high schools during the past week to hand out certificates to the students who have completed a Head Start course.

Contact Details:
Katrina Corcoran, USQ Media, +61 7 4194 3167