Macquarie University Careers Advisors Day 2017 

Ms Watson-Browne (Careers Advisor from Masada College), Claire Pech and Kerry Turner (Careers Advisor from Moriah College) amongst the lovely backdrop of Macquarie University.

Last Friday I was out with NSW Careers Advisors at Macquarie University. It was a fantastic day learning about what is new at Macquarie University and what they are doing differently, and visiting such a vibrant campus. For those of you thinking Macquarie University is “so far away”, it only took me 28 minutes driving from Maroubra (in off-peak traffic) and the campus is a stunning, green, vibrant space.

Professor David Wilkinson

We heard about how Sydney is undergoing a transformation. There is an expectation that there will be three to four universities in the next 40 years to cater for the growing population of students.

• $150m has been invested by the State government
• $2.5bn is being invested in the next eight years (an incredible amount!)
• The very big picture:
  • The MPID – Macquarie Park Innovation District – where ideas come together –  Macquarie University wants to make this space for collaboration, new start-ups, jobs, growth and incubators. 
  • Macquarie University has a new pop-up incubator hub for collaboration, including a full program of mentoring, support, advisors and curriculum of innovation which is all free for students.
  • Macquarie University Cyber Security Hub is a $10m investment between Optus and Macquarie University for teaching and up-skilling the Optus workforce. A new Masters of Cyber Security and Cyber Security is being offered.

Faculty of Health Sciences – Future of medical education – Prof Patrick McNeil

Their Health Sciences Centre is the only one in a university that operates its own clinical space, working with a Hospital and Clinical Programs and specialising in:

• Neurosciences, Cardiovascular/Respiratory, Cancer, Surgery, Bone and Joint, Primary Care and Wellbeing, Critical Care and Anaesthetics.

Bachelor of Clinical Science – ATAR of 90 

• This is a multipurpose degree for students interested in becoming a doctor, physiotherapist, medical researcher, and those wanting to help people and are fascinated by human body
• This is a fast-tracked degree with three years of study collapsed into two years by using full academic year
• Students do tests and interviews in preparation for medicine through GAMSAT
• Students gain practical and technical experience and can register for a research stream
• They also offer a Masters of Public Health and Doctor of Physiotherapy
• Macquarie MD is on track for a 2018 entry for postgraduate medicine. It is a full fee-paying four-year degree with 60 students in the cohort. Potential students sit a very competitive admissions examination, based on GAMSAT, and also attend an interview.
• Macquarie has a big research faculty studying Motor Neurone Disease, Dementia, Melanoma and Health Services.

Simulation hub

As Macquarie University is renouned for Psychology we had a fabulous tour of the simulation hub, visiting Car, Flight and 3D Motion simulators, where Medical Science students collaborate with Psychology students to solve problems in an inter-disciplinary fashion.

Flight simulator

Car simulator

Virtual Reality simulator