Online Information Sessions

How many years work experience is required to gain entry into the Masters of Business Administration (MBA)?

The Masters of Business Administration (MBA) requires a completed Bachelor Degree in Australia (or equivalent to Australian) with credit average, together with at least 3 years relevant work experience.

Diversity of background is the one thing postgraduate design students tend to have in common! Postgraduate students are older they mostly bring with them years of work practice and often management skills in a specialist area which can compliment design practice and thinking. The value of this should never be underestimated.

Postgraduate designer tends to be more 'specialised' or 'personalised' in their development and because group outcomes are often a part of research tasks, you have every opportunity to develop your talents and directions to the advantage of the group as a whole.

I heard that there was an option to study a Masters of Civil and Construction together. Is this correct?

Yes, that is correct. Swinburne is offering a two-year package program, allowing you to undertake the Master of Technology (Civil) followed by the Master of Technology Management (Construction Management) and reduce the study length from two and a half years to only two years.

Students who successfully complete the Master of Technology (Civil) will receive four unit exemptions (equivalent to six months) when they enrol in the Master of Technology Management (Construction Management).

I am currently working in a remote part of Indonesia and would like to continue my Construction Management studies. Can this be done on-line?

You are allowed to take this as Distance Mode and your materials will be posted to you. Your assessments will have to be submitted via email or post.

In regards to the minor thesis as part of the Master of Social Science (Housing Management and Policy) - do students select their own topic and have a supervisor? Or will students be provided with a selection of topics to choose from?

The minor thesis is chosen by the student in conjunction with a supervisor. If the student is having trouble identifying a topic we suggest a range of topics and assist in making connections to industry and government if that is required as part of the thesis.

With the demands of a busy schedule at work and home, what procedures are there in place for catching up on missed classes? Are there online lectures?

Whilst we like you to attend all of the lectures, this is not always possible. Lecturers can supply the notes for missed sessions and we can try to make alternative arrangements for assignment due dates etc. We do offer the first of the four subjects online and this is run at the same time as the face to face classes.

What is the total expected study time per week for the Quality Management course including online hours?

Students are expected to spend approximately 6 hours per week online and undertaking reading, research and the completion of assignments and case studies. It is expected that the course be completed online over 24 weeks.

Can the entire Quality Management course be completed online, off campus?

The course will only be offered online in 2009.

Can I take longer than two semesters to complete the Quality Management course if necessary?

It is not ideal, however we understand there are occasionally extenuating circumstances where it cannot be avoided.

How much can I involve my specific work practice?

Almost all your assessments will be work based and we encourage students to use their work place and practices for all their case studies to make it relevant to them and their needs.

Is future studies a widely recognised discipline? I am wondering what you may have to say to that regarding the potential benefits to a business career or indeed outside of business eg policy, public sector?

Strategic Foresight is growing as a unique skill set. Certainly 6 years ago it was hard to sell people that 'traditional' strategy was not up to our times. It’s not so hard to sell that idea given what has come down the pipe in the last 2 years and what is still to come.

Most of our graduates are already in roles that they bring Strategic Foresight to - marketing, strategy, sustainability, policy. Some change their role/career while doing the course. A couple of enterprising types have created their new job by selling strategic foresight into their organisation. A minority go down the consultancy pathway. Most of the graduates are mid-career professionals rather than being fresh out of University.

What type of background do Technical Communication writers need to have increase job opportunities?

The Technical Communication program only requires students to have an undergraduate degree - the field that it is in doesn't matter. Some Technical writers have a background in literature and the humanities, while others have a background in IT or engineering or other technically oriented fields. Technical writing does not sit neatly within any one discipline; it is truly inter-disciplinary and one of its beauties is that people come to it from such a broad range of backgrounds.

What are the differences between undertaking the Technical Communications program through Open Universities Australia (OUA) versus directly through Swinburne?

In many cases it doesn't matter which route an applicant chooses; it's usually the case that they apply through which ever route led them to find out about the course. However the OUA is not set up to evaluate applications from non-graduates applying on the basis of their industry experience. So in those circumstances the applicant should apply through Swinburne.

Will the subjects within the Technical Communication program specifically teach tender writing and the tender process? Or is the course more focused on manual writing and scientific communication?

All of the subjects are taught by staff working in the industry, many of whom have extensive experience in writing tenders. The topic of tender writing is not taught directly. You would, however, have the opportunity to ask lecturers for advice.

Students learn the basic principles of constructing effective documents, the classes of software that technical writers use and when to use which of these classes, the principles of writing procedures documents as well as manuals, and also how to write online help files.

Admission into the Graduate Certificate of Social Science (Technical Communication) course requires 2 years of "relevant industry experience" if an undergraduate degree has not been completed. Would the selection panel still consider an applicant who has one year experience in a technical communications role and three years experience within that same company they are employed with if they met all other criterion?

Yes, we would consider such an application. Do please send a folio of your work - two or three pieces (depending on their size) - plus a CV with contact details for two referees.

I understand that ideally the Technical Communication course should be started at the beginning of the year, however mid-year entry is also possible. Would there be a disadvantage if I started mid-year?

There is no disadvantage in starting mid year if you only want to do the Graduate Certificate. This consists of the first four subjects of the Graduate Diploma. All four of these subjects are taught online and all four are offered each semester.

Normally students are part-time and take two subjects per semester. In this case we advise them to start with these two:
HATC410 Effective Communication
HATC412 Software for Technical Communicators

And then, in the following semester, go on to these two:
HATC411 Developing Technical Documents
HATC413 Developing Online Help for Applications.

(The remaining four subjects make up the Graduate Diploma. At present these are only taught face-to-face at our Hawthorn campus, on a two-subjects-per-semester basis. These do have a preferred order. But assuming a student were able to attend classes they could be taken in a different order with only a minimal disadvantage.)

What is the difference between doing Writing through Swinburne or enrolling through OUA?

The choice of studying through Swinburne or OUA this is entirely up to the student. The course is exactly the same and so are the course fees - we merely have two different points of entry into the program. With respect to the units are offered, Swinburne work to the OUA timetable for both sets of students, and OUA and Swinburne students work in the same tutorial groups.

What exactly are the logistics of the Writing program in terms of how is the course delivered?

It is conducted completely by Distance mode, focussing on a virtual lecture and tutorial delivered through the internet via Blackboard (Blackboard is the learning management system we use for managing the flow of information and discussion with and between students). At the beginning of each unit we provide a CD which contains a 'virtual lecture' and a PDF version of the lecture that you can print off.

There is also a podcast version in case you want to listen to it via MP3. When the study period begins, students log on to Blackboard and are introduced to a tutor and a tutorial group (within the first week or so) and then to the website which contains a brief discussion related to the lecture, the topic for the week, and a link to a number of readings that will inform the responses that students are required to make on the Discussion Board. You can do this at any time over the week - we do not have a set time for students to log in. This is particularly helpful for overseas students, because of time differences.