Graduate Certificate in Information Technology

The Graduate Certificate in Information Technology at The Institute of International Studies (TIIS) is a short postgraduate qualification delivered over 14 weeks. It suits people who already hold a bachelor degree in another field and want to move into IT, or IT professionals who want to formalise skills they have picked up on the job. The course is also a pathway: if you complete it and want to keep going, the units you pass can normally be credited towards a longer postgraduate qualification in IT, subject to the receiving course's rules.

What you study

As a graduate certificate, this course is made up of a small set of units of study, enough to give you a working grounding in the core areas of IT without the length of a full master's. You will cover the fundamentals: programming and software development, database design and management, networking and security basics, and the ways information systems are planned and delivered in organisations. Assessment is a mix of practical work, assignments and exams rather than a single final test. Because the course runs for one study period, it is intense, expect full-time study and plan your week around it.

How it fits the Australian system

Australian qualifications sit on the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). A graduate certificate is a Level 8 qualification, one step above a bachelor degree and below a master's. It is the shortest postgraduate coursework award you can take. A bachelor degree is normally three years, an honours year adds one, a master's is one to two, and a doctorate three or more. A graduate certificate is measured in units of study and credit points, not years, and it is not a research degree, there is no thesis. TIIS publishes the CRICOS course code (115212K) and the tuition figure on the CRICOS register, so check there for the current details before you apply.

Skills you come away with

You finish able to write and test basic code, design and query a relational database, explain how networks and security controls work, and talk about IT systems in the language organisations use. Those are the skills employers ask for in entry-level IT roles and in the technical parts of non-IT jobs. The course is taught in Australia, so you also get the local industry context, how Australian organisations buy, build and run their systems.

Who it suits

This is for career changers with a degree in something else, people returning to study after time in the workforce, and international students who want an Australian postgraduate qualification without committing to a two-year master's. If you are an international student, you will need to meet the English requirement, IELTS Academic 6.0–6.5 overall is the common coursework-postgraduate standard, with TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, Cambridge C1 Advanced and TIIS's own English programmes accepted as equivalents. The Department of Home Affairs sets a separate English threshold for the Student visa itself. While studying, a Student visa generally allows work of up to 48 hours per fortnight during term. After graduating, the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream may be available depending on your circumstances. Confirm all entry, English, tuition and visa details on the official TIIS page and the CRICOS register.

• IT support officer / help desk analyst, first-line and second-line support in banks, insurers, government agencies, hospitals and managed service providers.
• Junior developer / programmer, building and maintaining applications in software houses, startups and in-house IT teams.
• Database administrator (entry level), designing, querying and maintaining relational databases.
• Network support technician, keeping networks running and applying basic security controls.
• Business analyst (junior), translating what a business needs into system requirements.
• IT project coordinator, scheduling, tracking and reporting on technology projects.
• Systems administrator (entry level), managing servers, user accounts and backups.

Australian employers in these areas include federal and state government departments, the four major banks, telecommunications companies, health services, universities, mining and resources firms, and the large network of IT consultancies and managed service providers. Many roles are in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, with remote and hybrid work common. Some graduates use the certificate as a stepping stone into a master's in IT or a related field; others go straight into the workforce. Check individual job ads for what each employer asks for.