Already the market leader in domestic IT postgraduate course enrolments, Charles Sturt University (CSU) seeks to be the leading IT research university by 2017.

 

As part of this strategy, CSU has today launched a revised Doctor of Information Technology, offering a unique Doctorate that is relevant, flexible and industry-based.

 

The doctorate market has experienced strong growth with over 43 000 students undertaking doctorates at Australian universities in 2008 and this continues to increase.

 

“Charles Sturt University has gathered feedback from potential students, graduates and industry leaders to discover what’s needed in a Doctor of Information Technology,” CSU School of Computing and Mathematics adjunct lecturer Mr Martin Hale said.

 

“We discovered there were three main barriers for people who were thinking of taking on this level of study. They were the size of the commitment, the perception that technically qualified supervisors would not be available and the belief that there was a lack of employer support. These three barriers have been addressed in this restructured course.”

 

The new Doctor of Information Technology will give students the option of exiting with a Graduate Certificate or Master level qualification. Strong supporter of the course, Mr John Ridge AM, Executive Director at the Australian Computer Society Foundation (ACSF), believes this will take the risk out of committing to a full Doctorate in a set time period.

 

“People can exit at different points and they exit with a qualification.  This provides the opportunity to obtain those qualifications and then, if you need to exit you can. You can take a break for a while and then pick it up again. It’s great to have this flexibility without losing the time you’ve put into it.”

 

IT Masters has identified a pool of potential adjunct industry supervisors who undertake CSU’s supervisory training program before being allocated a student. One of these supervisors is CSU adjunct lecturer, Asia Pacific Director of the Global Institute for Cybersecurity + Research and leading Australian cyber security expert, Dr Craig Wright.

 

“The reason professionals undertake a doctorate is to differentiate themselves in a growing workforce and this restructure offers one of the most flexible and work-relevant courses available.

 

“My background is in information security and forensics, which is a growing area within the industry, and software security and digital forensics are areas the doctorate will address. Students can be assured that supervisors have the technical expertise in highly specialised areas like this and can therefore help them with their studies.”

 

In the research conducted, most prospective students indicated they would be approaching their employers to help fund their studies, but doubted they would get support as the only output was a thesis that would not be available for at least six years. 

 

“Rather than pure academic papers, the restructure has included White Papers, or applied papers giving employers tangible outcomes within an acceptable timeframe that makes an immediate impact,”  Mr Hale said.