Did you know that the University of Melbourne now offers many pathways and study options in information technology (IT)?
Students wishing to study IT can choose to enrol in the Bachelor of Science; Bachelor of Engineering- last intake in Semester 1, 2010 (via a major) ; or in the Bachelor of Arts; Bachelor of Commerce; Bachelor of Environments; or Bachelor of Music (via breadth).
First year
To specialise in the IT study areas, all students will take two exciting first year subjects in informatics:
- Practical Computing and Informatics
- People, Data, and the Web
Informatics is the overall name used for the IT study areas. It is all about gathering, manipulating and visualising data – the tools to solve problems in a vast array of fields: finance, health, journalism, engineering, journalism, biology. These two first year subjects provide an entry point to the IT study areas below in later years. Most students may select to undertake the Diploma in Informatics alongside their study to earn an extra industry-accredited qualification if they wish.
Later years
Students can choose from the following IT study areas:
- Computer Science is the study of information and its manipulation. Our students study ways of storing it and transforming it, and explore the basic limits that restrict our use of it. Topics include programming languages, operating systems, theory of computation, artificial intelligence, computer graphics, databases. Students learn how to design, analyse, and implement complex systems involving computer networks, databases, and web services.
- Software Engineering involves the creation of large software systems to be used in applications such as banking, public transport, hotel reservations and the Internet. Software engineers often work in large teams, and elicit, analyse and document software requirements; and then design, implement and test complex software systems.
- Information Systems is the study of interaction between technology and people. It uses hardware and software as tools to solve business and social problems. Students learn how to create and deploy ICT so that value is maximized. The focus is on technical and business skills, e.g. electronic commerce, knowledge management, telecommunications, multimedia, databases and organisational processes, and analysis and change.
- Science Informatics integrates knowledge from a range of disciplines including computing, information modelling and human-computer interaction. Our students investigate the application of IT to science – and graduates develop skills in understanding, manipulating, visualising, integrating and exploiting scientific data. Our graduates are prepared for careers in information and data management, medical and health informatics and clinical research, physical informatics and social informatics
With Melbourne ranking No. 29 in The Times Higher Education Supplement 2009 for Engineering and IT and No. 6 for employment outcomes, our graduates are able to demonstrate a range of key attributes including, communication and teamwork, technical skills and a desire to find solutions to complex problems. Our students are employed all over the world in roles incorporating writing software, managing IT teams, doing systems and business analysis, designing systems, developing websites, and consultancy.
Employment opportunities in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector are growing, particularly in Victoria where about a third of Australia’s ICT jobs are based. ICT contributes more to our national economy than agriculture, defence or education and almost as much as mining, with almost 514,000 people in related jobs. There are an abundance of small ICT specialist agencies as well as a large number of multinationals – Victoria hosts big names like HP, Computershare, Microsoft, Ericsson and IBM
In spite of the Global Financial Crisis, there are still significant IT skills shortages and strong long-term career prospects for IT specialists. A study undertaken by the University of Melbourne is found that top employers need graduates with IT management skills. Science and research needs IT specialists to fill an increasing number of roles in areas such as bioinformatics and data analysis. IT is also crucial for careers in business and finance, media, science and medicine, government, fashion, architecture and design so regardless of the undergraduate program that they wish to pursue, taking some IT subjects can provide students with critical transferrable and employable skills.
“In the first quarter of 2009, we increased our total employee population, including a significant number of graduate and professional hires. We have no planned redundancy programs.” - IBM Australia, (The Australian, 26 March 2009)
Find out more about how to study IT at the University of Melbourne