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 Business Administration / Master of Information Technology
As data-driven decision-making is becoming essential for organisations of all sizes, a question that arises is whether managers of the future should pursue a Artificial Intelligence and Data Science or a Business Administration postgraduate degree. This course uniquely lets you combine both.

As an IT professional, you need both business acumen and highly-specialised discipline skills to take your career into the future. This combined qualification will give you the skills you need to address a gap in the market and boost your IT career opportunities.

You’ll develop specialist skills in business and data analytics so you can work with big data and combine artificial intelligence and data science with business management. The industry is always changing – so we collaborate with industry, advisory boards and integrate feedback from students to make sure the course content keeps up with the needs of today’s workplace.

You’ll gain valuable knowledge and business insights, and also develop greater self-awareness as you learn to reflect on your leader identity and leadership attributes. You’ll work closely with our academic team, and choose electives from business management and economics to create a specialist qualification to suit your goals and career aspirations.

3 reasons to study a combined MBA and Master of IT in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at Murdoch

• This is the only combined course of its kind in Australia.
• Complete two Masters qualifications in just two years. Along the way, you’ll gain a competitive advantage in your career and the skills you need for success in a challenging environment.
• 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.

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

• IT project management
• Organisational behaviour and management
• Artificial intelligence
• Strategies for growth and excellenceBig data