Boosting your qualifications is an effective, tried-and-tested strategy for pushing your career forward. The problem? Finding the time to travel to an in-person course provider can be inconvenient at best, impossible at its worst. With full-time jobs, family, and trying to maintain a social life to take care of, ambitious professionals have long sought a more practical way to get the skills they need to take their careers to the next level.
This demand is part of the reason why the number of Australian online course providers has skyrocketed in recent years. These 100% online courses allow students to enhance their skills at a time and place that suits them. It’s all of the benefits of a postgraduate course with none of the drawbacks, essentially.
With that said, professionals looking to get ahead in their careers can’t just select any old online course provider and expect to get results. For that, only the best will do. With that in mind, we thought we’d round up the best online course providers in Australia, which you can use to make an informed decision before selecting which one you’ll study with.
Boost Your Career: Top 7 Australian Online Course Providers
1. SCU Online: Best Overall Online Education Provider
SCU Online is a young and comparatively small Australian university, and that’s part of its strength. Founded in 2014, it offers students a fully modernized online learning experience and a caring, supportive environment, which, when combined, can produce powerful results. SCU Online offers a wide range of master’s, diploma, and certificate postgraduate courses, all of which take place 100% online. They specialize in some of Australia’s most popular study areas, including business, education, engineering, and law, and stand out from the crowd thanks to the quality and affordability of their courses.
2. TAFE NSW: Best for Minor Skill Upgrades
TAFE NSW has a long reputation for helping provide professionals with the skills they need to get ahead in their careers. While primarily an in-person learning provider, they’ve branched out into the online education world in recent years, and now offer courses across a wide variety of industries, including accounting, engineering, fashion, healthcare, and trade & logistics. You’ll typically find that TAFE NSW offers a range of course duration types, from short courses that you’ll only need a few days to complete, through to more intense, multi-month courses.
3. Upskilled: Great for Hyper Flexible, Relaxed Learning
Upskilled in an online course provider that specializes in vocational training programs. Conducted entirely online, Upskilled prioritizes student flexibility and autonomy — there’ll be no one looking over your shoulder, and you can even sign up for courses on a week-to-week basis in some cases. Their courses are currently limited to those relating to business, technology, and social work/wellbeing, but they’re continually updating the courses that they offer, so it’s worth checking back from time to time. If you’re looking for a hyper-relaxed course where you’ll get out what you put in, then Upskilled could be a good option, though students looking for more in-depth or challenging courses should look elsewhere.
4. Charles Sturt University: A Well-Respected Name
As with TAFE NSW, Charles Sturt University is a mostly in-person learning institution that is branching out into the online course market. So far, they’ve been successful, putting together a range of affordable courses that can run from as little as a single day to postgraduate online courses that take two years. You can find courses in a wide range of disciplines, including popular subjects such as business, education, medicine, and IT, to more niche offerings such as theology, animal sciences, and agriculture. Charles Sturt University has a good reputation with employers, too, which can help professionals extract as much value from their online course as possible.
5. Right Choice Training: An Affordable Way to Upskill
Right Choice Training offers a user-friendly learning platform that provides professionals with the skills they need to succeed in the workplace. Designed with careers in mind, Right Choice Training courses have been created with the input of industry leaders, which helps give students peace of mind that the skills they’re learning will be applicable to their careers. While affordable, courses from this provider are somewhat limited, generally focused solely on the most common subject areas, such as business, project management, and accounting. With that said, if your job falls into one of its focus areas, then you’ll find that the provider’s relaxed approach to learning can perfectly align with your other responsibilities.
6. Online Courses Australia: Flexible Learning for Students Around the World
Online Courses Australia delivers 100% online courses to students around the world. Though they’re a non-accredited trainer, that doesn’t mean that there’s no value in the courses that you’ll find on their site — their courses have been put together by people who know what they’re talking about. With that said, courses from Online Courses Australia are generally best for professionals looking to add a couple of key skills to their CV rather than people seeking in-depth knowledge. Still, courses are affordable, and they’re also wide-ranging, with courses available in everything from aged care to travel & tourism.
7. RMIT University: A Good Option for Future-Focused Industries
Online courses from RMIT University aim to combine all the goodness of their in-person courses with the flexibility of online learning. They’re a well-respected name that has plenty of industry connections, and you can trust that the skills you’re learning will be applicable to your career. They also go above and beyond to create a sense of community that can sometimes be lacking in online courses. They offer courses in a wide range of subjects, specializing in future-focused subjects such as artificial intelligence, business and finance, IT and security, and science and engineering.
Final Thoughts
In a hypercompetitive employment landscape, ensuring that you have the latest skills and knowledge is essential for getting ahead. Happily, upskilling no longer involves having to travel to and from a campus multiple times a week. With so many great online course providers to choose from, professionals have the freedom to learn when and where they please, without sacrificing quality.
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