by Stuart Miles

Today’s update to career guidance professionals is helpful in supporting year 12s who are applying for further education and training courses through VTAC.

VTAC stands for Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre. This is the sorting house, or admissions portal, for all applicants to courses in 2022 whether they are:

• Year 12 students
• Young adults who recently graduated from year 12 (in past 2 years)
  Mature-age applicants
• Domestic and International students
• Students living in other states in Australia wishing to apply to universities and other higher education institutions in Victoria

VTAC provides resources to help your child to navigate the application process. There are application deadlines to meet, which will impact on the fee you/they will pay to apply. By applying early you incur a much lower fee than if you miss that early application deadline.

VTAC  – Course Search
The CourseSearch page of the VTAC website is a handy go-to resource, which goes live in term 3 each year, when the tertiary institutions provide the admissions centre with courses that are on offer for the following academic year.

https://delta.vtac.edu.au/CourseSearch/searchguide.htm

The applicant enters a search term, such as Marketing and then nominates, by use of a tick-box, whether they wish to view courses either called Marketing, or that has Marketing as a key part (or Major) within a broader course.

Here I will explain a couple of distinctions. Specialist and Comprehensive courses:

Specialist Courses

A focused course of study with many core, or prerequisite, subjects (Units). The course is ‘industry specific’, and will likely include a professional title in the course name. For example: Nursing; Mechanical Engineering; Education (Teaching); Digital Media.

Comprehensive Courses

A broad course of study where there will be a lot of options for specialisation within the program. For example, a Science degree within which the student can choose to specialise in one or more Major streams of study, but also has the opportunity to study Elective subjects from both the Science faculty and from other faculties as well.

Read my blog from last year for more about choosing further/higher education courses.

Back to VTAC. Other things for your year 12 student (age equivalent) child to consider in apply for courses through VTAC are Scholarship and Special Consideration, or SEAs applications. Again there are deadlines to meet and application requirements to consider.

Please make sure that your child has watched some videos and read the relevant pages within VTAC. Here are some helpful links:

VTAC Year 12 Guide

https://www.vtac.edu.au/before/guides/y12guide.html

VTAC Student and Parent Guide to Applying Video

The tertiary admission centres for other Australian states are listed here:

https://www.tisc.edu.au/static/guide/interstate.tisc

The Good Universities Guide also has a helpful guide regarding the application system and processes nationwide:

https://www.gooduniversitiesguide.com.au/study-information/getting-into-a-course/the-tertiary-application-process/tertiary-admissions-centres

Finally, if you are in need of further support for your child please contact us at www.karenyourcareercoach.com.au/contact

Impartial, private professional career coaching is the best way to give your child the support they need. We are independent of any school, or higher education institution. We pride ourselves in listening well and supporting your child in the most holistic fashion. This means that we recognise and endorse their interests and strengths, therefore seeking out the best possible pathway for them.

Your child, whether they are presently engaged in school, or in employment, or other study, will excel at the right level and grow in confidence, with our support. They will learn to be independent in their research, as well as learn about job search strategies.

As a parent of young adult daughters, I have been through the course selection journey, with my daughters, in recent years. I also constantly keep up to date, by engaging in the briefings, such as this one today with VTAC.

Trust in Karen Your Career Coach and Associates.

Their Future Matters!

www.karenyourcareercoach.com.au/contact/