A total of 13,605 offers have been made for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees on campus and online across CSU’s campuses – a 26 per cent increase compared with the same time one year ago.

That included 247 offers for undergraduate programs through the Orange campus, which constitutes an 80 per cent increase compared with the same time in 2016.

The courses offered at the north Orange site in 2018 include bachelors of clinical science, dental science, pharmacy, physiotherapy and sustainable agriculture.

The figures come as the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) released bulk university offers to year 12 students before Christmas for the first time.

Further offers will be made by UAC in the coming month: Round one on Friday, January 12, and round two on Wednesday, January 31.

CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor Jenny Roberts said that while it was pleasing to offer the students a pathway to higher education there remained concerns in academic circles about the impact of changes to Government funding for tertiary institutions.

“We remain very concerned about the prospect of higher education funding cuts by the federal government and how this will adversely impact on our regional students and communities,” Ms Roberts said.

“While we fear these cuts announced at the end of 2017 will place additional pressure on universities, we will continue lobbying for the higher education sector to retain essential funding for our regional students and our communities.”

Ms Roberts urged those still waiting for a university offer to survey all of their options to gain admission to their chosen course.

“Year 12 students who have not received an offer to study as yet should look at the many options for later rounds and pathway courses to the university,” Ms Roberts said.

1324 offers for undergraduate programs at Bathurst’s CSU campus (up 45 per cent), and 1826 offers for undergraduate programs at the Wagga Wagga campus (up 68 per cent).

The university’s Dubbo campus recorded 108 undergraduate offers, an 80 per cent increase.