University launches 'fully accredited' graduate diploma

In a statement released this morning, the university said the “fully accredited” course has been specifically designed to allow advisers to study without “having to pause their careers".

“While we welcome the federal government changes and think they will be good for the industry, we also appreciate how difficult it is – especially for people currently working in the field – to drop everything and return to study,” said Western Sydney University associate professor Sharon Taylor.

“We’ve considered this in developing our curriculum and structure of our graduate diploma course.”

According to Ms Taylor, students enrolled in their course will have the option to take on “challenge exams”, which “allows people with existing knowledge and experience to fast-track their path to the full qualifications now required”.

“This process involves individuals using their industry and existing knowledge to undertake Challenge assessments on a quarterly basis, without having to complete a full unit of coursework,” she said.

This system would allow some students to graduate from the course within a single year, the statement said.

The statement did not clarify with whom the course is accredited. ifa has reached out for further comment.