It’s official – Charles Sturt University (CSU) has the largest number of domestic students enrolled in its postgraduate courses in information technology (IT), according to the latest available figures.

 

Comparisons released by the federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations show that CSU has risen to become the largest provider of postgraduate IT education in Australia. CSU had over 430 enrolments in its IT courses in 2008, with the majority of these students choosing to study via distance education.

 

Head of the CSU’s School of Computing and Mathematics, Associate Professor Irfan Atlas, said this growth flies in the face of a falling popularity of IT among students.

 

“Total domestic enrolments in postgraduate IT courses offered by all Australian universities fell from over 5 700 in 2002 to around 3 300 in 2008. Total undergraduate student numbers also fell by 61 per cent over this period,” Professor Altas said.

 

“The IT downturn subsequently triggered a widespread rationalisation of IT teaching resources and staff across many Australian universities.”

 

Adjunct senior lecturer in IT at CSU and Chief Executive Officer of IT Masters, Mr Martin Hale, believes CSU has ridden out the downturn through the introduction of specialised courses that produce graduates which successfully meet the employment needs of the IT industry.

 

“One of the key features of these degrees is that students also attain certificates from major IT vendors such as Cisco, Microsoft and Oracle,” Mr Hale said.

 

“Our courses have been recognised by the IT industry as being ‘best practice’ in the Asia Pacific region by IT giant Microsoft and the Computing Technology Industry Association.”