Upskill and Chill: Government Announces Half-Price Online Uni Courses

The Australian Government wants you to stop bingeing on Netflix, and start bingeing on courses. Education Minister Dan Tehan has just announced a range of half-price 6-month online courses to help workers upskill and reskill during their downtime. These new, online-only courses start at $1250 and range from Diploma to Graduate Certificate level.

In short, this means you can study a government-funded short course at a university level while stuck at home in COVID-19 lockdown. These new micro-credentials could be perfect if your job has been affected, and you’re looking to upskill or reskill.

The aim isn’t to gain a full degree or qualification, but rather to gain a head start in your industry of choice when the economy gets back on track.

“We’re slashing the prices of degrees and diplomas in short courses to enable people, rather than bingeing on Netflix, to be able to binge on studying,” Tehan explained.

The university-delivered courses will be in ‘priority areas’, targeted at occupations in need of more skilled workers, such as teaching, nursing, health, engineering, and IT.

“Discounted student fees reflect the financial hardship faced by students who are displaced workers,” said Mr. Tehan.

“We’re going to need people as we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.”

Courses will be available in the following priority subject areas. The Australian Government will fund half of the total course fee for the first 20,000 eligible students.

Update: The first batch of courses are available to view on the Course Seeker website. Make sure to turn on the ‘short courses’ filter.

Universities are currently designing these online-only subjects, which will run from May to December 2020. 20,000 funded spots are available for eligible students, and each student can complete 4 ‘units’ (or subjects) before December 1.

Check with your university or educational institution regarding entry requirements for each course, which will vary. It’s also a good idea to discuss what kind of career outcomes you can expect from the course.

The Australian government has started moving vocational courses online, so you can still upskill while at home. Senator Michaelia Cash says this may allow regional students to access courses that were previously unavailable to them.

There’s now an option to filter by online courses on the MySkills website. https://www.myskills.gov.au/