Charles Sturt University (CSU) has further increased its leadership for course enrolments within the university information technology (IT) postgraduate education sector.

Recently released Australian Government higher education statistics* show that CSU had 2 694 students enrolled in postgraduate computing courses in 2016, which is 86 per cent more enrolments than CSU’s nearest competitor.

Dr Arif Khan (pictured), course director in the CSU School of Computing and Mathematics, explained the reasons behind this dominance.

“Technical innovation happens fast, and institutions need to be extremely agile to keep their courses relevant,” Dr Khan said.

“Charles Sturt University is ahead of the curve in this regard. We work with professionals across different IT specialist areas to align our content with the latest industry developments.

“At the moment, a lot of industry demand is for IT security practitioners. In response, we have developed subjects such as cyberwarfare and terrorism, dark web, and cloud security. Next year, we will release a new master’s degree on cyber security.”

But it is not all about course content. CSU also uses high-profile industry professionals as well as academics to deliver many of their programs. CSU’s cyberwarfare and terrorism subject – due for release in 2018 – will be taught by Richard Stiennon, the author of a best-selling book on cyberwarfare, and an international security expert with over 20 years’ experience.

Looking ahead, there is no sign of CSU’s IT course growth slowing down. According to Associate Professor Irfan Altas, Head of the School of Computing and Mathematics, demand for postgraduate computing courses has been so strong that they recently began offering the Master of Information Technology (MIT) course at CSU in Port Macquarie, the University’s newest campus.

“Our courses have always attracted high-quality international students to our Study Centre partners in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane,” Professor Altas said. “However, we thought it was time to offer a regional option.

“The domestic and international students who’ve enrolled in the Master of Information Technology at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie cannot believe how great it is; they love both the course and the community, so we expect demand to keep growing.”

*Source: Australian Government Higher Education Statistics