Media Release

November 20 2008

New programs to boost Australia's defence industry skills

Two battleships docked in Sydney Harbour The University of South Australia will develop two specialist postgraduate degrees as part of a $60 million skills training overhaul for the defence industry announced by Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon on Saturday.

With funding of approximately $3 million from the Federal Government’s Skilling Australia’s Defence Industry scheme, the UniSA degrees aim to address the burgeoning defence industry’s demand for hundreds of highly skilled graduates in systems engineering, systems integration and sustainment.

The degrees will be developed with the support of defence industry specialists BAE Systems, Saab Systems and ASC, and university partner RMIT.

Deputy Director of UniSA’s Defence and Systems Institute, Associate Professor David Cropley said the new degrees form a critical part of the Federal Government’s initiatives to boost education and training for the defence industry.

“About $2 million of the new funding will extend the reach of defence industry education throughout Australia through the creation of a flexible, online version of the Master of Military Systems Integration,” Prof Cropley said.

“This is an expanded version of the highly successful degree that was first launched in 2006 with the generous support of BAE Systems, Saab Systems and ASC, who will continue to contribute their knowledge and expertise in the delivery of the online degree.

“We expect the funding to boost the number of Master of Military Systems Integration graduates tenfold over the next few years.”

UniSA will also play a major role in the development of the new Master in Systems Support Engineering, to be led by RMIT.

“This is an all-new program designed to meet the needs of defence companies involved in supporting complex defence equipment over lifecycles as long as 30 years,” Prof Cropley said.

UniSA’s Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Peter Lee welcomed the funding announcement.

“UniSA is proud of its action learning environment and the real-world relevance of its programs,” Prof Lee said.

“Australia has defence projects worth tens of billions of dollars in the pipeline. Graduates of these new masters programs will be able to apply their knowledge and skills in a variety of these projects and be part of a flourishing industry.

“The Federal Government funding is a great vote of confidence in the University, in the relevance of our programs and in our relationship with defence industry partners.”

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