Leon Piterman, who took over as pro vice-chancellor last month, said the courses would reflect the needs of the burgeoning south-east suburbs.

"The growth of the campus needs to respond to the growth of the population," he said.

"So the courses we are planning to develop are relevant to community needs. Of course, we need courses that are relevant to anyone, but there are particular community needs in the region that we have identified."

Bachelor degrees to come online from 2012 include primary nursing, social welfare, health science, international business, professional communication and education.

Professor Piterman said the university would also aim to increase access to tertiary education for people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

"There is a big push for social inclusion in the region. In this region, at the moment, only 9.5 per cent of the population has a university qualification, which is less than the Melbourne average of about 20 per cent.

"So there is quite a lot of work to do to try to get students from lower socioeconomic areas into university."

The minimum Enter score of 70 to get into Monash has been a hurdle and the new courses are aimed at helping negotiate that barrier, he said.

"Not all kids have had equal opportunity in this region. And we know when they get to uni, kids with Enter scores of 65, given a chance, can do extremely well."

The campus would also partner Chisholm Institute of TAFE in developing 'pathway' programs, including opportunities for TAFE students to move into Monash degrees.

Professor Piterman said 17 health science courses at Chisholm had already been identified as suitable for articulation into Monash courses.

"It's not often you have a university across the road from a TAFE and an opportunity to really link in a physical way as well as in an organisational way."