Program Overview

Our Postgraduate Qualifying Program is a 5-unit course taught over one trimester. It has been designed as a pathway to a master’s degree for international students who don’t meet the entry requirements for a master’s degree.

This course is suited to you if you:

• don't have the desired results to gain entry to your chosen master’s degree
• need to adapt to the academic requirements in the master’s degree studies
• need additional English language support

After successful completion of this program, you will be able to commence your postgraduate degree studies with confidence at Murdoch University, which has achieved a QS Stars five-star rating.

Course Structure
You will need to complete five units in one trimester. These units are designed to develop your learning techniques, bridge gaps in your unit knowledge, and prepare you for your master’s studies at the University. You can start the program in any trimester during the year. You may extend your program period if you fail a unit and need to re-enrol.

• Academic English - This unit is aimed at providing students from a range of educational backgrounds and cultures with the academic language skills necessary to successfully study at a postgraduate level. These skills will be developed through real-world contexts to specifically prepare students for their postgraduate units. It equips students whose first language is not English with the necessary skills to successfully engage in group work, become more effective communicators when collaborating with others, and gain confidence in building productive relationships.
• Study and Research Skills - This unit aims to develop many of the written and oral presentation skills that students need in preparation for postgraduate study. This unit will develop generic writing and thinking skills that will equip students for success in any tertiary learning environment. Skills include how to begin writing assignments; how to give writing a strong structure; and how to improve the clarity and power of what is written through appropriate word choices.
• Critical Thinking Skills - This unit aims to enable students to develop the critical and analytical thinking skills essential for studying at postgraduate level. Students will learn to critically engage with academic reading material to examine and evaluate the argument of others. Students will learn to identify the difference between critical analysis and description and be able to better formulate an argument effectively in their own writing. Students will participate in interactive workshops to develop confidence in their ability to apply critical thinking strategies. Students will analyse differing viewpoints, challenge the views of others and clearly communicate their own position.
• Quantitative Studies - This unit aims to introduce students to the important quantitative skills that provide a sound understanding in mathematics and statistics that are used in postgraduate study. The principles of data analysis and quantitative techniques will discuss sampling, representations of data, measures of central tendency and dispersion, distributions, correlation, and regression.
• Intercultural Studies - This unit will provide students with an understanding of how to interact, participate and communicate effectively in Australia. Emphasis will be placed on providing students with opportunities to understand their own culture, develop meaningful and empathic understandings of other cultures (with reference to Australia) and how they relate to each other. This unit will also develop knowledge, understanding and intercultural communication skills that will enable students to participate effectively in a range of personal and professional contexts.

Leading to: Master of Information Technology
This course is designed to significantly extend your existing qualification and experience in the field of information technology. 

This masters degree may be completed in one of two ways, by coursework, where you complete 48 credit points or by coursework and dissertation where you complete 36 credit points in coursework and a 12-credit point dissertation.

You’ll be able to tailor your degree to meet your career goals by choosing specialisations in IT Management, Data Science or Internetworking and Security.

You’ll also have the flexibility to complete qualifications as you go, allowing you to complete the Graduate Certificate in Information Technology after one semester, or the Graduate Diploma after one year, in either Information Technology Management, Cyber Security and Networking or Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, depending on which units you select.

3 reasons to study a Master of Information Technology at Murdoch

1. Make use of our brand new IT Innovation Hub, a cutting-edge learning teaching and research facility, fitted out with the latest mixed and augmented reality equipment, operational data centre and high performance computing capabilities.
2. Study at the only university in WA ranked as world standard by the ERA* in the field of Networking and Mobile Technologies.
3. This course has been designed in collaboration with industry partners with an emphasis on effective communication and the development of solutions to complex real world IT problems.

Develop your skills
Build essential skills and knowledge to meet your career or study goals. Topics you’ll cover include:

• Information security management
• Project management
• Network administration
• Business analytics
• Data science

Cyber Security and Networking (with Dissertation) (Major)
Cyber security and networking provides a thorough and practical grounding in network design, network administration, network management and security. This course will give you a deep understanding of information technology (IT) methodologies used to help organisations achieve their goals and objectives. You’ll also undertake an IT research dissertation before you graduate.

Studying this course is flexible, allowing you to choose units to develop your skills or build on your current skillset. You can also tailor the course to meet your career goals and needs.

3 reasons to study Cyber Security and Networking at Murdoch

1. Make use of our brand-new IT Innovation Hub, a cutting-edge learning teaching and research facility, fitted out with the latest mixed and augmented reality equipment, operational data centre and high-performance computing capabilities.
2. This course has been designed in collaboration with industry partners with an emphasis on effective communication and the development of solutions to complex real-world IT problems.
3. Learn from information technology experts and industry advisors as they share their experience and insights from a range of perspectives.

Develop your skills
Build essential skills and knowledge to meet your career or study goals. Topics you’ll cover include:

• Network management and security
• Global network design
• Troubleshooting network problems
• LAN and wireless network design