CQUniversity is the most popular among regional universities operating in Queensland, according to a QTAC analysis of first-semester enrolments for 2012.

With campuses stretching along the coast, CQUniversity managed to attract almost 3000 fresh enrolments. Only the ‘big three' metropolitan universities gained more.

The Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC) created a table showing enrolments for all 11 of the universities offering courses in Queensland.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Scott Bowman welcomed the statistics as a stepping stone towards CQUniversity's ambition to be recognised as one of Australia's great universities by 2020.

"It will be Australia's most engaged University. It will engage with its students, staff and all of the communities it serves," he said.

Professor Bowman said the latest enrolments reflected CQUniversity's significant investment in new courses, particularly in the Allied Health areas, and new infrastructure, including a Distance Education Study Centre launched in Cairns this week.

The VC said CQUniversity would continue along the pathway to become a leading dual sector university and a research intensive university. It would become Australia's leading distance education provider and would become known as a national university with a physical presence right across Australia.

"CQUniversity will also be an inclusive university that prides itself on the types of student it embraces, rather than one which defines its success in terms of its elitism and exclusivity," he said.

"We will also be a University that 'gives back' by contributing to the development of all our communities, including those overseas."