CDU to offer short online courses to help jobless workers upskill amid pandemic

CHARLES Darwin University will tailor short, online courses for Territory residents that are part of the Federal Government’s latest efforts to upskill workers who have become unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Charles Darwin University will tailor short, online courses for Territory residents that are part of the Federal Government’s latest efforts to upskill workers who have become unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Picture: Supplied

CHARLES Darwin University (CDU) will tailor short, online courses for Territory residents that are part of the Federal Government’s latest efforts to upskill workers who have become unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Government announced on Sunday it would introduce cheap courses to upskill people during the coronavirus crisis.

From May, universities, including CDU, and private providers will offer short, online courses such as nursing, teaching, counselling, IT and science.

The courses will run for six months and fees will be slashed by more than 50 per cent.

The initiative, which is part of the Higher Education Relief Package, will also guarantee funding for universities at current levels and introduce exemptions from loan fees under FEE-HELP and VET student loans.

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CDU vice-chancellor Simon Maddocks said the university would tailor programs to help engage people in the shorter term.

“It is really helpful that the Government recognises that all the things people could be doing at the moment, one of the things is maybe doing some study to gain or develop further a broad set of skills that will help employment out,” he said.

“Our role as a university, among our other priorities, is very much to support that and we’re certainly going to be looking very hard at what we can do to tailor programs.”

However, National Tertiary Union NT president Darius Pfitzner said the courses should be free.

Mr Pfitzner described the relief package as a “joke”, saying it did not bring new money to support universities.

He said the education should be free through an initiative similar to the JobSeeker payment.

“The logic is for those people that haven’t got jobs they have an opportunity to upskill and cross-skill, fully fund their education into whatever they like,” he said.

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“There’s a transfer of wealth from the Federal Government into society through a mechanism that is already established rather than simply issuing people with money to apply for jobs that don’t exist.

“We need to try and maintain the jobs. This reflects somewhat of a socialist attitude to the development of our society, be it smart nation through education.”