I'm doing the bachelor degree that you mentioned wolfman. There are a lot of kinks to work out and alot of moaning about the youngn's from the older paramedics (they need to remember that they were young and inexperienced once too), but it seems clear that when its all sorted out, the system will churn out very good paramedics.
Entry to the degree last year required you to be in the top 10 percent of school leavers. (I had a friend who scored slightly lower than me and did medicine, lol, but that's rare). The university also requires an essay on why you want to be a paramedic and why you will be a good one. Entry is extremely competitive (for my year there were about 600-700 applicants for approx 70 spots, from memory).
The degree is three years long and includes (currently) about 12 weeks of ride alongs, with various degrees of involvement depending on experience, and hospital rotations. Followed by a 'probationary' year on the road, in which you are supposed to be mentored by an experience medic (although this doesn't happen the way it should).
After three years you can qualify for intensive care training, a masters degree, to work on the Mobile Intensive Care Ambulances.
With exception for the new curriculum which needs to be adjusted, some time to change the attitudes of the older medics, and the service a little (the system may need to expect that university won't churn out ready made medics and we may need to adjust its expectations, as with medical school and interns), I think we'll be providing some truly world class pt care here in Melbourne soon enough (current union disputes with the ambulance service notwithstanding).
