Program Overview

Our Diploma is equivalent to the 1st year of a La Trobe University degree – only with tailored learning and more support.

Diploma of Cybersecurity

Our new pathway program in cybersecurity offers you the opportunity to step into the rapidly evolving digital world of cybersecurity.
Upon completion of the diploma, you will enter the second year of the Bachelor of Cybersecurity at La Trobe University.
Students will build a highly specialised technical skillset as you learn about the history of hacking, build your coding expertise, and access industry-based projects and mentoring opportunities with major corporations.

As a cybersecurity expert you will learn to:

Cybersecurity fundamentals

• Learn the basic principles and best practices of cybersecurity. Understand how it mitigates cyber vulnerabilities and protects confidential information.
• Ethical hacking and defence
• Gain evaluation techniques to assess the security of network configuration and apply these skills to defend against network-based threats.

Programming and cyber algorithms

• Explore the widely used Python programming language and learn how algorithms are used to solve cybersecurity challenges.

Network engineering

• Study the architecture of computer networks and the internet, and examine protocols and services used in the defence of online information.
• Cyber governance and risk management
• Learn the frameworks for cybersecurity governance and risk mitigation based on your emerging understanding of business strategy and risk appetite.

Gain direct entry into 2nd year of: 

Bachelor of Information Technology
The world is drawing closer together. As the speed and quality of digital technologies continues to evolve, we need more passionate professionals who can create meaningful solutions and connections.

Designed to help you build our digital future, La Trobe's Bachelor of Information Technology equips you with skills across programming, networking, databases, systems analysis and design, and project management.

Along with building a strong set of core IT skills you can choose to major in one of several areas aligned to future industry growth including artificial intelligence, cloud analytics, cybersecurity, network engineering or information systems.

Broaden your knowledge and capabilities further through a wide range of electives. Combine your core IT skills with business, social sciences, humanities, web engineering, computer technology, security and information systems analysis subjects. Plus you could develop a software program of your own, which you could present at the annual Engineering and IT Showcase to potential employers.

With industry-based projects and CISCO certification embedded in the course, you'll receive professional mentoring opportunities as you build career ready skills. You'll also gain access to our expert research centres, including the Centre for Technology Infusion and our state-of-the-art Technology Innovation Lab for the Internet of Things – developed in collaboration with Microsoft and CISCO.

You'll learn:

• Web and software development - Develop and build websites and software. Administer the front end, back end and server side of websites and IT systems.
• IT systems analysis and design - Understand and analyse IT systems to deliver more efficient and effective IT solutions for your organisation.
• Design - Learn about software, system and network design so you can contribute to making better programs and infrastructure.
• Programming and networking - Learn the language of computers and how they communicate with one another to create working code and smarter systems.
• Project management, estimation, documentation and report evaluation - IT is more than just computers. Learning to manage projects and communicate effectively is a must in any organisational environment.

Major: Network Engineering
Computer networks are part of our daily life – so much so that an hour-long outage can cost organisations hundreds and millions of dollars. Designed to help you build our digital future, La Trobe's networking major equips you with skills across basic programming, networking, databases, systems analysis and design, and project management. Network engineers are responsible for designing, implementing, monitoring, and managing the local and wide area networks of an organisation to ensure maximum uptime for users. The role can include designing system configurations, documenting and managing the installation of a new network, and maintaining and upgrading existing systems as necessary. Network engineers also ensure network firewalls and security are up to date. With data driven and cloud-driven approaches coming into picture, the role a network engineer is always evolving. In this major, you’ll learn to design and develop new systems and hone your expertise in computer networks, signal processing, network security, and mobile communication network design – all using the latest technology. You’ll develop fundamental skills in programming, web and network security, entrepreneurship in information technology, network design, wireless networking engineering and project management. With industry-based projects and certification embedded in the course, you’ll receive professional mentoring opportunities as you build career-ready skills. You’ll also have access to our expert research centres, including the Centre for Technology Infusion and our state-of-the-art Technology Innovation Lab for the Internet of Things – developed in collaboration with Microsoft and CISCO. By majoring in network engineering, you have the opportunity to work in almost any industry in a team. With more companies making the shift to big data and cloud computing, it’s a field experiencing growing demand.