Australians who want to learn new skills to improve their job prospects can now apply to study short, online courses at our leading universities at a heavily discounted cost.
The Morrison Government has facilitated the roll out of a suite of six-month, online courses focussing on areas of national priority such as nursing, teaching, counselling, IT and allied health as part of its Higher Education Relief Package.
Minister for Education Dan Tehan said Australians could now use their time in lockdown to gain new qualifications in their current job or learn new skills to transition to a new career.
"The course offerings focus on national priority areas because they are high demand jobs that will play an important role helping Australia bounce back from COVID-19," Mr Tehan said.
"The cost of studying these courses has been slashed to support Australians who have lost their job or had their work hours reduced.
"Australia's higher education sector has stepped up to the challenge of developing short and focused online courses and aligning them with industry needs.
"Our universities have demonstrated they are innovative, agile institutions, capable of developing high-quality courses within a short timeframe.
"Not only do these microcredentials address immediate need to keep our workforce engaged and adding long-term career value, they present the opportunity on the back of the pandemic for universities to lead globally with a pivot towards a new shape of higher education for a transformed economy."
The discounted course fees range from just $1,250 to $2,500 for a six-month course and students will still be able to defer payment through HECS-HELP.
Information on at least 64 short courses from 11 universities is available on the Course Seeker website (https://www.courseseeker.edu.au/) or directly from universities, with more course offerings to follow.
