Central Queensland University’s Gold Coast International Campus is growing in diversity in terms of course options and student background.

The campus, which caters for the full-fee degree market, now offers an Associate Degree of Information Technology and an Associate Degree in Business.

These new associate degrees enable students to exit with an early award or continue on to gain a Bachelor level qualification. In both cases, they are able to fast-track their studies thanks to CQU’s three-term year.

Meanwhile, CQU Gold Coast recently hosted the launch of new graduate information technology and information systems programs designed for quick modification to keep up with industry trends.

CQU Gold Coast now has more than 350 students from 32 nations – including Australia – with recent students arriving from Zambia, Peru, Portugal and Sweden.

Students at the campus on Marine Parade are making the most of 24-hour, seven-days-a-week access to information technology and electronic library resources and are enjoying improved facilities.

The Gold Coast International Campus, which started operating in 2001, is tailored for full-fee paying students and features personal attention, small tutorials and on-going support for communications and study skills. Campus Director Peter Mendham said upgraded dining, data projection and air-conditioning facilities were among the recent improvements.

Industry focus groups have already been involved in shaping the new MIS and MIT degree programs and they will be called upon to reshape them at regular intervals. The programs are accredited by the Australian Computer Society. Current 'hot' options like information security and data mining have been mixed with the still-relevant areas like e-commerce and knowledge management.

Director of Graduate Programs for CQU Informatics and Communications, Associate Professor Greg Whymark said the revamped Masters programs had the advantage of a foundation period, enabling subsequent studies to be more focused and in-depth. Another improvement is advanced standing for I.T. bachelor degree holders and a variety of exit award options.

Assoc Prof Whymark said the Information Security stream provided the knowledge for industry certification via the Computing Technology Industry Association. He said the new graduate programs were already seeking more industry relevant cross-polinations, with serious contenders including bioinformatics.

The MIS has a focus on knowledge management, data mining and the business/technology interface, while the MIT is focused on e-commerce, information security and software development.

Details about CQU Gold Coast International Campus are available via 5552 4988 or enquiries@goldcoast.cqu.edu.au