How new ideas are helping students find their feet at Federation University

Inflatable axe throwing, drag queens, lawn games and food trucks were just a few measures at this week's Fed Fest activities, part of the traditional orientation week, to help students meet their peers and get to grips with the start of their tertiary studies.

Federation University chief learner experience officer Samantha Bartlett said there were "lots of new faces and lots of students coming back" to their studies for 2024.

"From a student number perspective we are up nearly 10 per cent on last year overall, and up just under five per cent for new students," Ms Bartlett said.

This year there are fewer international students on campus compared to last year.

"Applications were up but ... there has been quite a significant slow down in visa approval," Ms Bartlett said.

Last December the university made about 750 first round offers of places to students finishing year 12, but many of Fed Uni's students in Ballarat are more mature students who apply directly, not through the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre.

"Our students tend to come in direct rather than being school leavers. They tend to be slightly older, tend to be female, tend to be juggling family, working and trying to either shift their career or upskill their career," Ms Bartlett said.

Many of those are attracted to degrees in teaching and nursing, which are among the most popular Fed Uni courses.

"By their very nature they need a lot of support - they need more hand holding and we need to help them enable that juggling of their lives and the multiple balls they have in the air," she said.

"We are all about setting students up for success and also supporting them as much as possible through their journey with us."

Before O-Week activities began, the university ran their Fed Ready course giving new students a week-long boot camp on what it's like to be at uni, tips and tricks, give them an understanding of the learning and teaching systems, assessments and more.

"We had a significant uptake in students wanting to do that ... and students that participate in Fed Ready have a much higher likelihood of making it through to the end of their course," she said.

Students opting for the Fed Ready course range from those who are the first in their family to attend university, which Federation University has the highest rate of in the country, those eager to be successful, and others who realise they need some extra help to adjust.

This year the university has expanded a peer mentor program, which began as a trial last year.

All new students have been matched with a mentor from their course, either a second or third year student, to help guide them through their early days of university.

There are also new partnerships with headspace Ballarat, Highway Foundation which provides education, support and outreach for students on wellbeing, sense of belonging and connection, and with FoodBank to help students suffering financial hardship.

The university has seen a 38 per cent increase in students studying Fed Fast - a program for students who really want to go to university but didn't quite get the marks. The six month program covers various different skills to allow them to successfully apply to go in to their first year of university in the next round of offers.

The Masters of Social Work course has seen a 51 per cent increase in student numbers, psychological science and the Bachelor of Psychology have also seen a jump in enrolments and the Bachelor of Psychological Science Honours is up 61 per cent this year compared to last.

Nursing continues to be thee most popular course, with 899 Bachelor of Nursing students studying across the year levels in Ballarat.

"Bachelor of Nursing is our biggest from student numbers across the board," Ms Bartlett said. "School leavers electing to do nursing in Victoria has dropped, but we have seen an overall slight increase in nursing students this year which is great."

Enrolments in secondary teaching, which has significant state government incentives attached, have boomed 85 per cent.