Improve quality of life

Health professionals have a direct, positive influence on the wellbeing of others. Through nutrition, exercise and lifestyle, and improving access to health care, health workers can guide communities to achieve a better quality of life. 

Health students graduate with a diverse range of real, practical skills ready for a rewarding career with a world of opportunities.

Belong to one of the best

Go beyond the textbook:

  • Practical placements are built into our industry accredited degrees. Every clinical placement will develop the practical skills that you need to become a sought-after graduate. 
  • Exercise Science students will complete 140 hours of placement in a community, sporting, scientific or commercial exercise setting.
  • Nutrition and Dietetics students learn the fundamentals of Nutrition in Practice, and have the opportunity to complete hands-on internships.
  • Public Health students have the opportunity to participate in a real-world consultancy experience in NSW Health environments.
  • Human anatomy laboratory: Anatomy classes at UOW offer real-life experience with human cadavers.

A UOW Exercise Science student stands in a gymnasium

Discover your passion, then develop the specialist skills that employers want:

  • Diverse graduates: At UOW, the skills you will learn are highly-transferable across a range of careers. We focus on producing graduates who can work in a diversity of health care settings including rural and regional Australian, as well as internationally.
  • Purpose-built facilities: Study in modern teaching laboratories for exercise physiology, rehabilitation and nutrition.
  • Specialist skills: Further your career with a specialist postgraduate qualification, or contribute to the advancement of health knowledge through a research degree.

A UOW rehabilitation and gerontology graduate helps an elderly woman on a walking frame

Earn a recognised qualification:

Our health degrees are recognised by professional associations in Australia and overseas. Depending on your chosen course, health graduates qualify to apply for membership of relevant professional societies such as:

See individual course descriptions for more detail.

Take it to the next level: Stay on the forefront of health knowledge with a specialist postgraduate qualification. Our postgraduate curriculum reflects the latest approach to health and medical education, and incorporates existing and emerging information technologies.

Students walking through campus in graduation gowns

 

A degree from UOW opens doors:

  • Industry collaboration: UOW has a strong research reputation in collaboration with industry, and partnerships with major health providers such as Workcover and Health NSW. 
  • Access to experts: You'll learn first-hand from professional dietitians, nurses, doctors, exercise physiologists, medical scientists, health administrators and researchers, and study in the home of ground-breaking health and medicine research.
  • Be rewarded: Earn an industry sponsored scholarship.
  • Give back: From your first year, you will have opportunities to participate in a wide range of volunteer and enrichment activities in the community. These will assist you in developing real-world skills and ready for a career in health and medicine.
  • Get noticed: Gain valuable real-world experience, and make professional connections that will help launch your career, with a professional health placement.

UOW Nutrition Professor Eleanor Beck with student Eden Barrett

Become one of the world's most employable graduates

Health care has been the biggest provider of new jobs in Australia and is projected to contribute 14.9% of employment growth from 2018 to 2023. UOW produces graduates who are committed to improving the health of individuals, communities and populations. 

Here is just a sample of the careers you can pursue:

  • Dietitian
  • Nutritionist
  • Exercise scientist / physiologist
  • Sports administrator
  • Rehabilitation specialist
  • Allied health professional
  • Health administrator 
  • Health promotion officer 
  • Public health program coordinator
  • Public health researcher
  • Public health project manager
  • Indigenous health officer
  • Epidemiologist
  • Industry health worker
  • Scientific researcher

Read more: What can I do with my degree? 

Meet Will

I’ve always had a passion for Indigenous health. I grew up with a Torres Strait Islander family and I saw some of the inequalities that were happening there. So, when I did the public health degree and there was an option to major in Indigenous Health, I figured that was my best route. I’m working in public health because I want to make a difference for disadvantaged communities. Will BACHELOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH (INDIGENOUS HEALTH)

Helping others to better health

Nicole wants to combine her interests in health, nutrition and psychology to educate people to make better decisions about their health. She is studying a Bachelor of Public Health (Epidemiology), which looks at trends in diseases.

Alumni stories

Hi, I'm Nicole. I'm studying a Bachelor of Public Health (Epidemiology). I wanted to start my academic journey from a young age. I wanted to do something along the lines of health and nutrition, but I also want to do something that was in line with psychology. Epidemiology is looking at trends in diseases. I think everybody has the right to a healthy lifestyle. I want to educate people to make better decisions about their health.

Study in the home of health research

Medical research Justin Yerbury with his IHMRI research team

Illawarra Health & Medical Research Institute

IHMRI is a not-for-profit organisation that supports researchers in the Illawarra who are striving to find better ways to treat disease and illness.

UOW Health Impacts Nutrition researchers serve breakfast to primary school children

Health Impacts Research Centre

The Health Impacts Research Centre brings together diverse groups of researchers to improve the health of whole communities.

Surfer on a board with tracking equipment strapped to his leads and back

Biomechanics Research Laboratory

BRL is committed to developing innovative strategies to decrease injury potential and optimize the quality of life for individuals of all ages.

We're fearless in the pursuit of our purpose. At UOW, you'll have ground-breaking research at your fingertips.

Global challenges

UOW's Global Challenges Program is a strategic research initiative addressing real-world problems. The program harnesses the expertise of world-class researchers from different disciplines, to ensure that every project and problem is investigated from a variety of perspectives to find a holistic solution. Research projects fall into four challenge areas identified by the UN, including Building Resilient Communities, Living Well, Longer and Making Future Industries.

LEARN MORE

The University of Wollongong’s Global Challenges Program is a strategic research initiative addressing real-world problems. The program harnesses the expertise of world-class researchers, to solve problems beyond the scope of a single discipline. Interdisciplinary research is fundamental to ensuring that every project and problem is investigated from a variety of perspectives to find a holistic solution.

The magic happens when unlikely collaborators find a focus, and work toward a shared challenge. The Global Challenges Program supports research projects under four challenge areas, including: 

  • 'Building Resilient Communities’, targeting inequality, vulnerable populations, and disaster resilience;
  • 'Living Well, Longer’, with a focus on ageing and dementia, mental illness, and therapeutic and personal recovery;
  • 'Making Future Industries’, investigating emerging technologies, new product development and the future of work;
  • 'Sustaining Coastal and Marine Zones’ investigating climate change, protecting coastal and marine habitats and resource security.

Global Challenges funds unconventional projects, with teams who work across different fields of research. With a focus on diversity and gender equality, and the development of Early Career Researchers, the program invests in the next generation of research leaders. Global Challenges supports research project teams to grow into self-reliant and sustainable initiatives, through brokering connections with industry, government and communities. As a result, researchers produce both scholarly outcomes, and make a real-world impact, transforming lives and regions.

A brighter future starts here

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