• Student fees for 14 Charles Sturt graduate certificate courses to be reduced as part of the Federal Government’s Higher Education Relief Package
• Discounts range from 81 per cent to 88 per cent off the normal course fees
• Only workers affected by COVID-19 are eligible to apply and must complete their course by December 2020

Charles Sturt University has announced 14 graduate certificate courses will be offered at a significantly reduced cost to eligible workers impacted by COVID-19.

The change in fee structure is part of the Federal Government’s Higher Education Relief Package, with the reduction in costs incurred by students ranging from 81 per cent up to 88 per cent off the normal course fees.

The discounted courses are only available to COVID-19 affected workers who are eligible for the Commonwealth Grant Scheme, enrol in their course after Friday 1 May 2020 and complete their study by the end of the year.

Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor John Germov, said the University hopes the discounted course fees will enable COVID-19 affected workers to upskill or retrain so their career aspirations stay on track.

“At Charles Sturt University, we want everyone to be able to pursue their education and career goals,” Professor Germov said.

“We understand that given the unprecedented times we are experiencing, a number of workers may be facing uncertainty or financial difficulties.

“We hope that by adopting this short-term initiative to reduce the course costs incurred by eligible students for 14 of our graduate certificate courses, greater access to higher education in national priority areas will be made available to these workers.”

The 14 courses are available for online study only in fields spanning information technology and education studies.

Professor Germov said for those eligible workers looking to enhance their knowledge and skills, the online certificate courses present a valuable opportunity to start a course with the country’s leading provider of online university courses.

“As Australia’s largest and most experienced online university, we continue to lead the way and despite a reduction in student costs, there will be absolutely no reduction in the quality of our online certificate courses,” Professor Germov said.

“Charles Sturt University will continue to train highly qualified and skilled graduates.”

A full list of the discounted certificate courses under the Higher Education Relief Package is available on the Charles Sturt website.

The discounted course fees incurred by students will be either $1,250 or $2,500, depending on the field of education the selected subjects fall into. For example under the package the fee for the Graduate Certificate in Education (all specialisations) has been discounted to $1,250 from the normal course fee of $10,680, and a range of Information Technology courses from cyber security to networking and systems administration have been discounted to $2,500 from the normal course fee of $13,400.

Charles Sturt has also made available a number of free resources to help support communities as well as high school students or anyone considering university study for the first time. Please visit the website for more details.

HECS-HELP loans to cover the student contribution for the discounted courses are available. Please visit the course page for each degree to find more fee information.

The 14 graduate certificate courses include:

• Graduate Certificate in Cyber Security
• Graduate Certificate in Networking and Systems Administration
• Graduate Certificate in Cloud Computing and Virtualisation
• Graduate Certificate in Information Systems Security
• Graduate Certificate in Industry Computing
• Graduate Certificate in Applied Data Science
• Graduate Certificate in Education (Adult and Vocational Education)
• Graduate Certificate in Education (Contemporary Literacies)
• Graduate Certificate in Education (Curriculum and Professional Practice)
• Graduate Certificate in Education (Digital Technology)
• Graduate Certificate in Education (Early Childhood Leadership)
• Graduate Certificate in Education (Educational Leadership)
• Graduate Certificate in Education (Educational Research)
• Graduate Certificate in Education (Indigenous Education)

A previous version of this article stated the University Certificate in Workforce Essentials was a discounted course as part of the Higher Education Relief Package, however this course is not eligible for the discounts.