Australians will be able to skill up, retrain and gain vital new knowledge from some of the world's best teachers through a range of short programs at The Australian National University (ANU).
The certificates, covering areas as diverse as data mining, machine learning and rare Asia-Pacific languages, are offered as part of the Federal Government's support for Australian workers who have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
Four of the programs are graduate certificates, with the other an undergraduate qualification. All five courses will be delivered online. They aim to give Australians the expertise and skills needed to succeed in our future economy.
Convener of the Graduate Certificate of Data Engineering, Dr Qing Wang, said her course teaches how to harness data for important innovations.
"Data not only helps tell the story of the world around us, but shows us what we need to know to improve our world," she said.
"This includes the current COVID-19 crisis where massive amounts of data is being used to help the world track the spread of the coronavirus.
"This program equips graduates with the knowledge we need to be smarter with our data, especially as it is used to help drive important decisions for our health and wellbeing."
Convener of the Graduate Certificate of Machine Learning and Computer Vision, Dr Miaomiao Liu, said the course would help graduates prepare for a world increasingly driven by artificial intelligence and robotics.
"AI and automation are changing our world in many profound ways," Dr Liu said. "From chat bots, to self-driving vehicles to drones that deliver our food or help farmers manage their crops, just to name a few examples.
"And the foundation of this new technology is machine learning, computer vision and robotics.
"Studying this program will help people gain the skills needed to build the robots and computers of tomorrow, today."
The Undergraduate Certificate of Languages draws on the University's long history as the leading tertiary provider of languages in Australia. The some 30 languages taught at ANU include many not taught anywhere else in Australia - including Burmese, Portuguese, Tok Pisin, Tetum and Tibetan.
Convener Dr Ashok Collins said as Australia became increasingly connected with the world it was vital for people to be able to effectively communicate with other people, societies and cultures.
"Language is a major foundation of our ability to not only trade and exchange with the world, but build strong, long-lasting and meaningful ties and relationships across the globe," he said. "Those kinds of relationships just can't be built in translation.
"At ANU we offer a range of languages that help people do this. This includes familiar powerhouses like Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic, French and German, but also less studied though equally important languages like Tetum from East Timor, Tok Pisin from Papua New Guinea, and Persian.
"No matter what language you study, you will be opening doors all across the planet."
The five short, online programs offered by ANU are the Graduate Certificate of Data Engineering, the Graduate Certificate of Machine Learning and Computer Vision, the Graduate Certificate of Environmental Management, the Graduate Certificate of Science Communication and the Undergraduate Certificate of Languages.
Applications are now open and can be made via the ANU website.
