Online Postgraduate Programs Offered by Australian Universities?

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your interest in my thread and I am a newbie here, so please excuse me if this question has been asked and answered in the past (did a search, but couldn't find too much useful into).

I am hoping some of you guys can perhaps help me to point out what are some of the Australian universities that not only offer fully Internet-based postgraduate programs, preferably in the field of marketing, tourism, event management, media communications and international business, but also have these online programs available to non-Australian applicants?

I did my bachelor degrees in Australia, but currently work in the banking sector in another country, so taking time off and apply for a student visa to study onshore in Australia isn't an option, yet I still prefer to do my postgraduate studies with an Australian university instead of choosing a local university here or in other nations such as the U.S. etc.

Hopefully some of you may shed some light and point me to the right direction, any meaningful feedback and suggestion is highly appreciated.

Regards.

ansett

 

Hi ansett - The first ones that come to mind typically are Charles Sturt University and Edith Cowan University. Virtually all of the Australian universities have online programs of some sort (except maybe ANU). There's only a dozen or so schools to look at so you could probably run through them all in a single evening. Here's a list:

http://www.australian-universities.com/list/

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Australia

 

Thanks for your quick response, Kizmet. The links you provided are highly valued.

I have indeed tried to email some Australian universities but it seems some of them only have online postgraduate programs (at least the ones that I'm interested in) available to current Australian residents or Australian nationals/PR holders living offshore, since I am not an Aussie and doesn't live downunder anymore "so my choices seem to be quite limited".

Regards.

 

It has been quite some time since I've checked but I do not believe that any Australian university denies admission to non-Australians. In fact, I think that all of the Australian universities make a considerable amount of money by admitting students from the Asian continent. If you can provide a link to any policy from any school that excludes non-Australians this would be most helpful to our members.

 

You are certainly right- education is now one of our largest industries. Most of our universities chase overseas students.

I have no hestitation in recommending the University of New England to anyone. Here is the address http://www.une.edu.au/

At the moment, I am doing a Master of History online through UNE. There was a student in America in the unit I studied last semester.

 

hi michael - just curiosity. what are you paying per year?

 

Just to explain, for Australians this course has Commonwealth(federal govt) Supported Places which means that the government meets most of the cost. Humanities type subjects are the cheapest and the more technical ones are dearer. For this degree the cost is $650.00(six hundred and fifty dollars) per 6 credit points (most subjects are 6 points). I have paid upfront so far which brings the costs down to $520.00 per 6 points. The whole degree of 48 points will be around $4000.00(four thousand dollars) that way.

So far I have been doing one subject at a time to make it more managable and to spread the cost. Fees for Commonwealth Supported Places are not tax deductable in Australia.

 

Another two to recommend usq.edu.au and newcastle.edu.au (gradschool.com.au) , they are quite at the forefront of technology when it comes to distance education.

 

I know what mean Kizmet, but it has been difficult with a few Australian universities I tried to contact.

For instance, one ACT-based uni has an online graduate certificate program posted on its website, the web page says the course is offered to both domestic and international students, yet several emails yielded very different responses, one staff replied by saying something like "this program is available to international students but they can only complete up to 25% of the credits via online delivery while the rest has to be done on campus", another staff responded with a sentence like "the program is available to overseas students with 100% online learning and no face-to-face/internal session is required."

It's just very frastruting...

 

Thanks Michael, I have heard some good comments about UNE's DL programs, but they don't seem to have much program offering in the field of marketing, tourism/event management and media communications etc.

But will still keep it on my back-up list for now.

Cheers.

 

I also do not know of any Australian universities that require Australian Citizenship for acceptance as a student. I think this may be a mixed up about eligibility for a HECS loan. As I understand it, these are not available to foreign students, but this does not mean the degree isn't. It just means the Australian Government will not fund a foreign student to do it.

My advice is to apply to the university that you wish to do the course through.

 

Thanks ebbwvale, I know how the HECS system works since I did my two bachelors degrees in Australia, but the responses I received from a number of universities seem to suggest that a lot of university staff have conflicting information when it comes to ENTIRELY online/DL program for overseas students. Most of the problems came across can be attributed into the two following categories:

1. Course availability to overseas students and applicable fee structure - As some of you pointed out, the confusions are probably due to the issues of HECS etc.

2. Varied knowledge about university policies on overseas students - Most Australian universities have rules on the proportion of course contents/credit units that overseas students can study via online/DL/external mode (I believe it's 25% for most AU universities), but I was under the impression that this rule is only applicable to onshore international students studying internally in Australia, yet a number of responses from several different universities I emailed to seem to be telling me such rule is also applicable to offshore overseas students, but then as I replied in my earlier post that sometimes another email from different staff at the same universities give me an entirely different response by saying there is no such rule for offshore overseas students studying the programs via online/DL etc.

I didn't anticipate my earlier queries would actually result in such confusion and so many conflicting info.

Regards.

 

Many thanks jackrussell, I have put USQ's Graduate Certificate in Public Relations on my list for now (that seems to be the only USQ postgraduate program I am really interested in), their website says the program is through distance education, but I am yet to email them for more details.

Regards.

 

Ansett,

Here is a good site for your review:

http://www.hotcourses.com.au/australia/distance-online-cn-phd-courses-australia/ph-aus-od/dl-cc/order-cd-1/kw/sf/courses.html

I looked at a number of schools and there are some interesting prospects. PLease type in your area of expertise or major and have a look at what's available.

Good luck.

 

Rdi

RDI Announces Alliance with Charles Darwin University, Australia, to Provide Distance Learning Doctorte - Resource Development International (RDI - http://www.rdi.co.uk ), the UK-based provider of distance learning courses, announces an alliance with Charles Darwin University (CDU), Australia, which gives world-wide students the chance to study its DBA programme off-campus, from any location.

The DBA is a doctorate programme for graduates of MBAs and management masters that want to further improve their management skills and careers.

Unlike other doctoral awards, such as Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), the DBA has sectioned the learning process into relatively discrete and manageable stages so the learner can work towards the completed award, enabling more people to succeed.

This DBA is studied on a modular basis over two years and focuses on contemporary international management issues, developing high-calibre, well-rounded professionals with specialised knowledge and managerial competencies.

At £10,000, it costs less than half the price of other DBA courses and provides wider access to research programmes for individuals who would otherwise be excluded on the basis of cost or location.

Dr Philip Hallam, CEO of RDI, comments: "The ease of access and study adaptability of this DBA means that anyone with an MBA who wants to gain more management knowledge and differentiate themselves to future employers now has the opportunity to do so."

Read more about gaining your UK university MBA through distance learning. RDI partners with UK universities to offer distance learning courses.

 

Would you be interested in doing a research Masters? I would think that this could be done entirely by distance learning, although it won't be advertised as such. I would direct e-mail a lecturer who has an interest in the same area as I and ask him/her if she will accept a student via e-mail etc.

I know USQ and Charles Sturt have students in the USA. Some were doing Doctorates. University bureaucracies down here, as you probably know, are very frustrating. Another way would be to e-mail the head of faculty. Don't accept the word of the bureaucrats. Anything out of the box, not only confuses them, but creates the need for effort. Something they are not inclined to do.

 

Sincere thanks for the link, very useful.

 

Again, heaps thanks for the suggestion, mate.

I have actually started doing this, instead of emailing the respective admission office of the universities in concern and getting conflicting responses from different staff, I tried to email a handful of course coordinators or program directors in relation to my admission and course queries, some have been extremely helpful while a few actually referred me back to the admission office.

Well, I guess that's just part of the so-called "hassle-free application process".

Anyway, thanks a million again!

Regards.

 

I can't find this anywhere, Charles Darwin University offering this at £10,000 isn't really possible. From what I know the Group of 8 typically offers phd at AUD100 000, they do not offer such programs online.

For the rest of the universities, some do offer complete PhD and Doctorate online, but it won't cost less than AUD50 000.

 

A Cursory Reading of Bears' Guide ...

... yields this list of some 20 or so Aussie unis offering some form of DL: Australian Catholic Ubiversity www.acu.edu.au, Central Queensland University www.cqu.edu.au, Charles Sturt University www.csu.edu.au, Curtin University of Technology www.curtin.edu.au, Edith Cowan University www.ecu.edu.au, Flinders University www.flinders.edu.au, Griffith University www.gu.edu.au, James Cook University www.jcu.edu.au, Macquarie University www.mq.edu.au, the University of Melbourne www.unimelb.edu.au, Monash University www.monash.edu, Murdoch University www.murdopch.edu.au, the University of New England www.une.edu.au, Northern Territory University www.ntu.edu.au, the University of South Australia www.unisa.edu.au, Southern Cross University www.scu.edu.au, the University of Southern Queensland www.usq.edu.au, the University of Tasmania www.utas.edu.au, the University of Technology Sydney www.uts.edu.au, and the University of Western Sydney Hawkesbury www.uws.edu.au.