A record number of students have received offers from La Trobe University through the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC), reinforcing the University's reputation as a global leader in higher education.
More than 1,365 hard-working students received offers from La Trobe today as part of VTAC's January first-round offers. This brings the total number of offers from the University, including November and December rounds, to 6,968 – a 4 per cent increase on cumulative offers made between November to January. This is the fourth consecutive year that La Trobe has increased its VTAC offers for this period.
Health courses including Sport and Exercise Science, Biomedicine, Nursing, Health Sciences and Biomedical Science have once again dominated La Trobe's top courses for VTAC offers across the University's metro and regional campuses, reinforcing the University's reputation as a global leader in health education and innovation.
La Trobe was the most popular institution of choice in 2026 for Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology, receiving more first preferences than any other Victorian provider.
Study fields of education, business, law and IT also rated highly amongst those hoping to study at La Trobe.
In addition to offers made via VTAC, the University has made more than 6,700 offers to domestic direct applicants, a 28 per cent increase on last year. This includes those returning to study after a break, undertaking an undergraduate or postgraduate degree as a mature age student, up-skilling in their chosen field or retraining in a new discipline.
More than 1,700 secondary school students received an offer to La Trobe in the December and January rounds through the University's Aspire Early Entry pathway program, an increase of 300 offers on 2025.
La Trobe Vice-Chancellor Professor Theo Farrell congratulated all students starting their studies at the University this year, many of whom received their first preference.
"I'm thrilled that we have made a record number of offers to students between November and today for a wide spectrum of courses across our metro and regional campuses," Professor Farrell said.
"In addition to the VTAC offers, it's great to see so many direct applications as well as offers made through our early pathway programs such as Aspire.
"It is particularly pleasing to see so many offers made for our health courses including allied health, rural health, dentistry, nursing and biomedical science for which we are globally recognised.
"I wish our new cohort of students all the very best with their studies and in their future careers."
With La Trobe's focus on making higher education accessible to regional and rural communities, there has been an increased number of offers at all four of the University's regional campuses in 2026.
Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor (Regional) Dr Guinever Threlkeld said Biomedical Science, Nursing and the Diploma of Rural Health had contributed to this strong result.
"At the heart of La Trobe's ethos and mission is a commitment to ensuring equity and access to higher education as well as helping to address local workforce need in crucial areas such as health and education," Dr Threlkeld said.
"It's pleasing to see that most of the offers made in many of our highly sought-after courses such as Dental Science and Physiotherapy are going to regional applicants.
"We are delighted to have seen such strong interest from rural and regional students in this year's offers and look forward to welcoming them in 2026."
As part of La Trobe offers to students via VTAC in the November to January period:
- The largest number of offers made were in Health Sciences, Nursing, and Sport & Exercise Science. Other popular courses this year include Business, Biomedicine and Occupational Therapy.
- Also popular were diploma and associate degree courses including Teacher Education, Health Sciences and Rural Health.
- Double degrees in Criminology / Psychological Science, Nursing / Psychological Science, Law / Commerce and other fields were popular with students seeking a broader range of study.
The January offer round is the third of seven offer rounds for domestic applicants in the VTAC system for 2026.
Many courses are still available for application.
