Short courses, big impact: New government subsidies to help Australians upskill in 2021
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Whether it’s through job loss or other means, COVID has shaken up many of our professional lives.
In fact, as of November 2020, over 940,000 Australians were still out of work—a massive 240,700 more than in November 2019.
Even for those who didn’t lose their jobs during COVID-19 shutdowns, the feeling of employment uncertainty has been very real, with record falls in Australia’s economic activity in 2020.
For others, the pandemic was a time of personal reflection, sparking a desire to pursue a change of direction in their career path, or a different career altogether.
2021 has been filled with new possibilities and opportunities. Professionally, it’s the perfect time to develop new skills (or fine-tune existing ones).
Universities are playing a vital role is driving Australia’s post-pandemic recovery by reskilling the workforce, nurturing human talent and fostering entrepreneurship and innovation.
In response to the pandemic, The Australian National University (ANU) has swiftly adapted its postgraduate offerings to include 36 short courses, specifically designed to address labour market skill gaps and advance national priorities.
Created to support students, the recently unemployed and working Australians to undertake higher education, the new short courses will provide graduates with a recognised postgraduate qualification and job-ready skills in the most in-demand fields.
11 of the short courses are subsidised by the Australian Government, enabling Australians to upskill or retrain at significantly reduced rates with no up-front fees in 2021. The subsidised courses are in areas that have been identified as a national priority, including health, science and technology.
Many of the courses teach skills that can be used across a range of industries.
The ANU Graduate Certificate of Digital Transformation, for example, aims to equip students with the “ability to identify and analyse the effect of, including problems associated with, new and emerging digital technologies on the current operating model of a company,” says convenor Associate Professor Amin Haller.
Another government subsidised short course, the ANU Graduate Certificate of Applied Data Analytics, teaches graduates to solve real-world issues using interdisciplinary perspectives.
Short course convenor, Professor Kerry Taylor, says the course accepts graduates from a broad range of disciplines.
“It teaches the math and computing and social and business understanding to be able to see a problem and work through the data collection and processing, to analyse and develop a solution, and then monitor once the solution is in place.”
“There’s hardly anyone in a professional role that isn’t working with data, as it provides less guesswork and more data-informed decision making.”
Meanwhile, the ANU Graduate Certificate of Data Engineering aims to equip graduates with the ability to use data to address complex problems, especially those relating to health and wellbeing.
“Data not only helps tell the story of the world around us, but shows us what we need to know to improve our world,” says convenor Dr Qing Wang.
“We need to be smarter with our data, especially as it is used to help drive important decisions for our health and wellbeing.”
An ANU short course provides a fast path to obtaining a graduate qualification, enabling students to graduate with a recognised qualification in as little as six months. For those considering undertaking a Master’s degree, postgraduate courses can be used as a pathway for further study.
The next intake for short courses is 26 July, with flexible choices for delivery, including full-time, part-time, on-campus, online, evening or intensive, to allow students to fit their studies around their personal or professional commitments.
Semester two postgraduate short courses applications are open now but closing soon—so you’ll need to act fast. To find out more, visit: experience.anu.edu.au/short-courses
