Tertiary education courses

Tertiary learning and teaching courses are for educators who already teach or design curriculums at a university level. They are also for TAFE and vocational teachers who want to teach higher education courses. 

Whether you’re early in your career or have years of experience, these courses can enrich your planning, instruction, assessment and evaluation skills—helping improve your students’ learning experience. 

To enter a tertiary teaching course, you will typically already have at least a bachelor degree in your field. 

You can enrol in higher education teaching qualifications at the graduate certificate, graduate diploma or masters level, with one articulating into the next.

In the graduate certificate, you’ll cover core topics such as the design of higher education learning programs, best practice for assessing and evaluating students, and innovation in teaching. 

The graduate diploma expands on the graduate certificate, with additional units—on researching the practice of teaching to explore solutions for current challenges in higher education learning, on how to teach diverse student groups, leadership and much more. 

At the masters degree level, you’ll study all of the above, plus improve your scholarly reading and writing skills and even design and work on a pedagogical action research project. 

Some courses will help you build a portfolio of evidence of your teaching philosophy. 

These courses will help you go after new career opportunities. Maybe you want to go after a promotion, move into a different role, increase your chances of securing funding for educational research projects, or get published.

If you’re already a lecturer or professor at university, you’re undoubtedly an expert in your field of study, but perhaps wish you were better at transmitting your knowledge to your students. 

A higher education teaching qualification could help you be more effective in this portion of your job. You’ll even find units on supervising postgraduate research students in some tertiary teaching courses. 

It's a flexible way to upskill while maintaining balance in your life. 

Most of the university teaching courses available through us are 100% online, which means you won’t have to take time off work to attend campus for classes. Plus, you can adjust your course load to suit your schedule—taking as little as one subject at a time. 

Find out more by speaking to our friendly student advisors.

If you’re teaching at an institution that offers both TAFE and higher education courses, you open yourself up to teaching at the degree level. 

Already working at a university? A tertiary teaching course could help you move into leadership roles within your department or faculty. 

For curriculum designers, learning designers and those whose roles are focused on improving student learning outcomes, you’ll position yourself for senior and leadership roles in your specialised field. 

Before starting an enrolment, it’s important to read the entry requirements for your chosen course to ensure that you’re eligible to apply. If you don’t quite meet the requirements, we may be able to help you find a pathway into your course through open-entry subjects, which anyone can study.

Chat with us to find out more.

Here at Open Universities Australia, we make enrolling online as straightforward as possible. To get started, find the course for you by browsing the options on this page. You can also compare different qualifications using our handy comparison tool, or request help from one of our student advisors.

When you’ve made your choice, click ‘Apply now’ on the relevant course page and follow the prompts to begin your enrolment. We’ll ask you to supply some supporting documentation, including proof of your identity, your tax file number, and a unique student identifier (USI) during this process.

Your university will get in touch with you via email to confirm whether or not your application has been successful.

Please note that enquiries and applications for some courses are handled directly by the university. If this is the case, it will be indicated on the course listing page.  

For more information about enrolment, read our online self-service enrolling instructions. If you get stuck at any time, contact us and we’ll talk you through it.