Main round university offers dropped by more than 4000 places across the state in 2015, with universities opting to secure prospective students in early round offers.

Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) reported early round offers increased by 5849 this year compared with offers made in 2014.

The University of Wollongong is a veteran of the early entry program, enticing eligible students for more than 10 years by provisionally accepting students in degrees before they put pen to paper in their HSC exams.

The university made a record 4800 main round offers on Wednesday, having already made early round offers to more than 2000 students last year.

"This represents growth in our early admissions offers, which is consistent with UOW's continuing commitment to using a variety of means to identify prospective students who would succeed in their chosen field at university," a UOW spokesman said.

Students were notified in October if they were successful in their applications, with their places confirmed by UAC in December.

UOW now faces increasing competition from other higher education providers for enrolments.

The University of Western Sydney upped the stakes by providing iPads to students enrolled in their early admissions scheme at enrolments this week.

The University of Sydney offers an iPad and a $5000 scholarship in their early admissions program, which targets students from low socioeconomic schools including Illawarra Sports High.

UOW did not provide the actual acceptance rate of its early round offers.

The highest ATAR required at UOW was 95, where it has remained for the past two years, with advanced science and medicine courses demanding the highest scores.

UOW reported engineering, nursing, commerce and exercise science received strong interest in both rounds, with their new social science courses being particularly welcomed by prospective students.