The feds are directly funding 58 more undergraduate certificates via “mostly private providers”

They are additional to the 170 short-courses universities are providing and are on top of the funding for micro-courses at non-university higher education providers, Education Minister Dan Tehan announced last month.

The new NUHEP “undergraduate certificates” are in “national priority” occupation areas Mr Tehan has nominated as important for economic recovery and to upskill people in COVID-19 created un/under-employment

When the minister launched the broad programme in April there was HE community scepticism about whether the level of HELP funding made them worth universities while to teach.  Nor did the new “undergraduate certificate” impress qualification taxonomers.

But a month on Mr Tehan can claim a win, for now – universities continue to pile into the programme, there are places for NUHEPs to keep happy Coalition backbenchers and the short-courses suit a broader, and longer, ministerial agenda; “making Australia a leader in the delivery of micro-credentials.”

We will know whether it was all worth it when attrition/completion rates are analysed and HECS repayments reveal whether completer incomes increase.