Overview
Since TAFE NSW announced three weeks ago it was offering 21 free online short courses to help Sydneysiders upskill during COVID-19, a whopping 85,000 people have enrolled. As a result, some of the courses are full — the medical administration course alone has 10,000 participants — but if you were keen to enrol, and just hadn't gotten around to it yet, you haven't missed out: new courses have just been unveiled.
Announced by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian this morning, Thursday, April 30, the 13 new fee-free short courses replace the oversubscribed courses and are now available to complete online via TAFE NSW. The 21 total fee-free accredited courses are open to people over 17 who live or work in NSW and are an Australia or NZ citizen, permanent resident or humanitarian visa holder. You can also only enrol in a maximum of two courses.
If you tick those boxes, you can now grow your digital skills with an introductory course to coding or cyber security, increase your medical knowledge with an introduction to infection prevention (with a focus on hand washing, PPE equipment and temperature control) or up your management nous with a Statement of Attainment in Leading Teams. Courses range in commitment from 3–11 hours a week for up to 26 weeks.
These new courses add to TAFE NSW's existing fee-free short courses, which are available to those impacted by this season's devastating bushfires and women looking to launch a small business. Early last year, NSW Government also announced it was subsidising up to 100,000 TAFE courses and apprenticeships under its Smart and Skilled program.
TAFE NSW has paused face-to-face courses. You can find out more about its COVID-19 response over here.
To find out more about and enrol in one of TAFE NSW's fee-free online short courses, head to the TAFE NSW website.