The universities generating the most GPs

For the first time, complete university data findings have been released in full, detailing exactly which medical schools future GPs are attending, and insights on what others can learn to support growth of the general practice workforce.
 
Co-authored by RACGP President Dr Michael Wright and Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) President Dr Rod Martin and published in MJA InsightPlus, the research examines medical degree graduate numbers across 2019–23 from 21 universities and how many entered general practice training programs, based on 2025 enrolment data from the two colleges.
 
The release of the ‘university of origin’ data follows a recent preview at the Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand (MDANZ) conference, presented by the two Presidents.
 
Now, the fresh insight offers a full breakdown of the medical student landscape in Australia, with the results showing the conversion from university graduation to GP and Rural Generalist (RG) training ranges from 16–52%.
 
Dr Wright told newsGP that sharing the full data for the first time is significant in demonstrating what universities are doing to encourage students to choose general practice.
 
‘We’re really trying to understand the differences between universities, and up until now, we haven’t had visibility to understand how different universities or how different medical school cohorts proceed into their further training or their specialist training,’ he said.
 
‘But given the wide variability, there is potential here to understand why some medical school cohorts have higher levels of GP and RG enrolment – and also to see if there are things that other universities can learn, which might support us to grow the GP workforce.’
 
James Cook University and the University of Notre Dame’s Fremantle campus boast the highest number of graduates most likely to choose general practice, including rural generalism, at more than 50% at both.
 
In absolute numbers, Monash University and the University of Queensland’s cohorts both led more than 100 graduates to GP and RG training.
 
The analysis also found that 32.9% of medical school graduates entered GP and RG training. This is despite a 2025 national survey finding around 15% of final-year medical students chose general practice as their first preference.
 
Dr Wright said this is a key takeaway that supports the medical college’s work in building the workforce and recognition that medical school training needs to be less hospital focused to encourage positive general practice training experiences.
 
‘More people are going into general practice training,’ he said.
 
‘If you ask medical students, “what are you going to do?” only about 15% say they’re going to do general practice or rural generalism – but these figures show more than 30% actually do go into general practice.
 
‘Once again this is really important to know because it means that we still need to train more GPs, but also it shows that something is often occurring for lots of junior doctors that make them decide to choose general practice and RG.
 
‘It does look like more junior doctors are recognising the attractions and flexibility of general practice and rural generalism after they leave medical school.’
 
Noting the ‘shift in intention’ between medical school graduation and choosing general practice or rural generalism, the authors say while further investigation is needed, this may be due to internship experiences, lifestyle considerations, employment opportunities, exposure to positive GP role models, or the availability of training places.
 
They say their findings detail the differences across metropolitan, regional and remote training and what is needed to boost the workforce.
 
‘There is an increasing urgency to grow the Australian GP/RG workforce, which requires greater understanding of career choices for medical students and doctors at multiple points,’ they write. 
 
‘This data may provide a mechanism to understand why some universities are producing more GPs/RGs, and potentially recognise how they do this, or support them to do this more broadly.’
 
The next phase of the RACGP/ACRRM collaboration with MDANZ is to provide a longitudinal analysis of trends in the university of origin.
 
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general practice training GP workforce Medical Deans medical students Rural Generalist training university data