Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan says 140 higher education providers will offer short courses to encourage Australians to re-train while isolating at home.
The cut-price online courses will be reduced by up to 75 per cent and will included certificates in nursing, teaching, IT and science. Mr Tehan told Sky News the quality of the courses was a top priority as was the practicality of ensuring they would lead to “employment down the track”.
“We’ve asked the authority that supervises our university system TEXAR to look at this and if all is going well we will have these micro-credential or short courses as part of the Australian qualification framework by the time they roll out in May,” Mr Tehan said. Sky News host Alan Jones said coronavirus and the education sector “were a lethal cocktail,” made even more difficult "when the states go down their own road, independently of the urgings of the Prime Minister”.
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