Two leading educators of Information Technology (IT) students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) believe that IT courses need to broaden their education base so students obtain full value from their degrees.

“University education is about personal development as well as learning the more vocational skills of the discipline,” said course coordinator for CSU’s Bachelor of Information Technology degree Peter Adams.

Mr Adams and fellow course coordinator Barney Dalgarno have recently completed a restructure of the University’s IT degrees to broaden the educational experience and to refocus their relevance to working professionals who wish to study by distance education.

“Being able to study up to eight subjects outside the IT discipline increases the value of the degree to students,” added Mr Adams.

“The non-IT subjects range from theology to human resource management, journalism and even wine-making. This diversity ensures students are able to pursue their interests and guarantees they will be more attractive to employers who value graduates with a well rounded education and broad skills base,” said Mr Dalgarno, winner of the 2002 Vice-Chancellors’ Award for Teaching Excellence .

The CSU academics see the current global downturn in the IT industry as more a slowing down of the boom times and levelling out to normal activity levels.

“Potential IT students should not be deterred by this levelling out as the demand for their skills, especially if they have a diverse education, is still strong,” said Mr Adams.

“The majority of our students are working professionals who are studying by distance education. The cycles of industry are part of their daily lives and study for them is part of their medium term career planning as well as their personal development,” said Peter Adams.

“We find our students really appreciate the flexibility of studying by distance education.  Being able to select a good range of subjects from their areas of interest keeps their enthusiasm levels for study high, while living their busy lives,” said Mr Dalgarno.

The CSU’s IT degrees have the highest accreditation from the Australian Computer Society, the recognised association for Information and Computer Technology professionals.

More information about the University’s IT degrees are available from email info@csu.edu.au or telephone 1800 334 733.