This popular deal is back for 2023
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/utas.edu.au
Highly recommend Dip of Sustainable Living
HECS Waiver on Selected Undergrad & Post Grad Certificates, Diplomas (Up to 4 Course Units) @ UTAS
850
Korban Dallas on 11/01/2023 - 20:39 utas.edu.au (9059 clicks)
Last edited 11/01/2023 - 21:29 by 1 other user
Last edited 11/01/2023 - 21:29 by 1 other user
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Overload and do both at the same time.
Might need to quit my job in order to take advantage of all these free courses.
UTas courses don't need you to quick your job to be free, just do them part time.
I did the Ugrad Cert in Sustainable Living last year whilst working full time
Is the TAFE one NSW only?
I did the design one last year, it was… alright for a free course. YMMV obviously.
Quality of their teaching staff was a hit and miss, their IT system sucked and both teachers and students were constantly confused about what days/times the tutorials were on.
Half way through the course, our course coordinator who was great but was a contractor, did not get her contract renewed by the university, which was really odd.
Most of the tutorial time was spent on doing group activities and going over assignment requirements, so not a lot of actual "teaching".
Assignment marking was also a hit and miss, some were great (offered detailed feedback), some were terrible (literally no feedback).
It was so bad. I dropped out after 3 weeks because the content was so slow.
Yeah UTAS drags at the start, but by the end it's cramming.
I signed up a while back but dipped out before starting when I realised what a shitshow the days/times were as I work and didnt want to half ass it and didnt want to commit without knowing at least some of the info as to when. Bit sad to see they havent changed.
These taxpayer-paid-for (not 'free') UTAS courses are 'personally rewarding' in some respects, but also highly dubious in many respects.
Re:
'Highly recommend Dip of Sustainable Living'
I did that whole diploma during 2019/2020. The experience was extremely tainted by the two 'core units', both of which were absolute BS (subjective/outdated crap presided over by idiots). Bizarrely, neither of those core units (i.e. compulsory units) required the students to actually learn anything about the science of sustainability, at all. They were delivered by the 'Media Department', and the content was as one might expect given that. The quality parts of the diploma were the science-based subjects I chose as electives; such as 'Science of Fishing', 'Science of Gardening', 'Backyard Diversity', etc. Those units were delivered by scientists, and thus they imparted actual information rather than functioning as some sort of platform for pinkos to use to push an overly simplistic and long-outdated agenda.
I enjoyed science of climate change the most. Otherwise didn't find the rest personally rewarding enough to justify the time so I finished up with the certificate instead of diploma.
Academic referencing is a pain
I'm still going through Dip of Sustainable Living. IMO it does depend on how much interest you have in the subjects and spare time you have to complete assignments and join the group classes to fully engage and benefit. For me I was just downloading the weekly module contents and gloss through- nothing you can't do googling information on things you were really curious about.
Science of Gardening 1 and 2 are quite good units- sadly I don't think I retained much in my memory bank.
Hey @GnarlyKnuckles you were the reason I signed up to do the course after I read your review on the last post. I agree about the core subjects. I'm halfway through now. You really have to sit down and read the course descriptions. I found the Energy one a bit hard. Took me back to high school chemistry. Got a big bogged down with all of the content and elaborate equations. I just get annoyed with all of the discussion boards you need to be constantly writing on. I wish that was optional. I enjoyed the 11 week Introduction to House Design. The content was interesting. Discussion boards were optional. They had great examples of the assignments to help you follow the guide on how they wanted the assignment presented.
I did the certificate of applied design and this was the same experience albeit leaning more towards the better side of things. It really irked me that we did a lot of group work during tutorial that I just end up sitting out of the rest of them while completing the certificate
Not many interesting courses there
It's not about the courses, it's about the student email. You can even quit before it costs the government anything.
Already has student email though …
Don't you have to pay the annual fee?
Not if you withdraw before the census date, which you already need to do to avoid the government having to pay the course fee.
@kehuehue: It seems it's been 6 years, I can't believe it's been so long. I actually completed the unit 6 years ago, there was a unit that included a Fitbit. I may have enrolled in one unit since then and withdrawn, but I can't remember.
@Miss B: Are there any fees if we still hold a place in the course, but haven't enrolled in any units? I just did one unit about 2-3 years ago, but haven't enrolled in any others since then.
@Spazmos: Nah, they seem to charge per unit for amenities fees, so no units = no amenities fees and the only other fees are the unit fees.
This one is pretty interesting:
Undergraduate Certificate in Fermentation
"…These skills also provide a foundation for establishing home-based fermentation activities such as brewing beer, making cheese, and creating a fine wine."
UTAS has the worst Student Portal ever. Poor user interface, difficult to navigate and impossible to find things without going through so many links. Its like a maze.
And here I thought that noting can be worse than Swinburne online's learning portal. Maze describes it well.
Disagree, still better than some of others
It's done by TechnologyOne, a Brisbane based and founded IT company. They try hard but miss the mark often. Dont get me started about the internal politics and workplace bullying or I would be here all day. Long short of it is that upper management don't care about anything other than stock prices, and anyone with a tenure of 20+yrs in a 35yo company are 'untouchables' and constantly harrassing young newstarts. Shocking place to work, and their products/ services reflect that. Glad I left.
I'm sure some of their employees will read this, and I hope they do. Hey guys!
It feels that way. It feels like its never been improved and completely lack innovations. Zero effort, purely designed out of someone's (profanity) for easy cash grab
Precisely, and that's largely due to my aforementioned seniors bullying newstarts and any ideas they have to improve. If its not their idea and sticks within the conforms they created over two decades or so ago, its wrong. Sadly the founder gave up CEO position about 5 years ago to an accountant whom was the CFO and its all gone really downhill since then. Only care about numbers but their short-sightedness hurts their profits in the long term. Care more about customers and employees, and the profits will follow. Cut corners as you can see via UTAS portals, and users will notice and avoid.
I hear you, I applied casula job there, no orientation, did tell them to change super detail, but still open a new unisuper accout, tax was charged 45% initially….not good experience….
Hahahaha yeah! And to think that they actually create accounting and payroll software!?!? Absolute debacle.
Are those on campus or can be done online?
You can check each subject page and they'll say whether they're online or on campus.
Design course was no good, dropped out after a few weeks, but I still have access to the .edu email for student discount.
Be aware that for the Design course there's one group assignment for Creative Entrepreneur unit, although I did have a great experience with the folks ymmv.
Can you get edu email with this deal ?
Yes and when I was visiting Tas I dropped by to get a physical student card which won't expire for a while despite graduating
I'd be interested if anything was construction related, but nothing is free if it's taking up time and does not benefit you or your career.
I did an IT Course and thought the python component and teacher were great. Some other parts, weren't so.
Which course was that @anawth ?
I would image they're referring to the Undergrad Cert in Applied Technologies. I did this too and agree that the python course was the best of the subjects.
The teaching throughout the certificate in general felt a bit unprofessional compared to my unrelated bachelor's degree at another Uni, but I only realised at the end of the course these are run by the 'university college' which is kind of a pseudo-uni where it's a bit more relaxed and they don't care so much about referencing etc
Helped land me a job before I finished so I can't really complain about it, but I do feel like I'm missing a lot of knowledge people with full IT degrees have and am looking to study further for the sake of job progressionI'm curious, how many hours a week did you study? And would you say it was worth it?
@Mysterious: I didn't study, just learnt as I did the assignments, so spent a good 5-10 hours every few weeks when they were due because I'm working full time, which is a shame because I had some genuine interest in the topics and would loved to have spent some time reading into it further
@jimmoods
Yep undergrad cert in Applied Technology. I already have a solid job in IT though, so it was a skill builder for me, and really only just the python part. The other 3 subjects, I think were networking fundamentals, hardware fundamentals and a design for IT subject (which I'd avoid like the plague unless you just want to coast through and add to your cv.)
Python was by far the best as the teacher was engaging, willing to test on the fly and there's another dude working for them who's clearly a professional programmer.I have an IT background too but considering doing the course. As you already have an IT job, how many hours a week did you spend doing the course?
Does this use up SLE?
Whats SLE?
SLE is student learning entitlement. It's a "scheme" introduced by the liberal government which limits the number of years a person can have a commonwealth support place to only 7 years. Each year studied reduces your "entitlement" by 1 year.
Yay libs. What else can they screw up? (Apart from NBN)
Ooh interesting good to know. Wouldn't want to waste my entitlement for something like this- definitely not worth it!
@Craze: Good luck using SLE with full HECS waiver on a course of value though.
If you think you are going to take a degree and masters in the future it's fully worth saving as SLE covers 7\8ths of your tuition. Can make a big difference.
@illogicalerror: ? apparently it applies on all CSP places which is basically what any aussie would be studying a degree under.
@bgbrendan: Other CSP placements still have a student contribution which is usually between $500-2k per subject, which if you can't\don't pay you get HECS debt. These places have a full HECS waiver… don't pay anything ever.
If I was a young person I would definitely save the Commonwealth contributions for meaningful studies, rather than these "free" courses.
wow how did I not hear about this
https://www.studyassist.gov.au/help-loans-commonwealth-suppo…
Some more info on this. Thanks for the heads up I had no idea and started to panic. Started Jan 2022 any any courses done earlier not counted
Anyone done Science of Fishing 1? Curious about if its any good
The trick is you use a shortened URL to point to that or rename it so you cant see the URL
It's also usually for information that can be found with a Google search, but I didn't see any opinions on the unit by following that link. For example, if someone asked how many days there are in a leap year, you'd link to a Google search for it and it would immediately give them a result and (hopefully) show them how foolish they were for not having just Googled it in the first place.
there 0 relevant results genius
Yeah lmgtfy isn't as good as Google but you get the idea.
My review https://www.ozbargain.com.au/folder/26330
Can also ask in the UTAS Life app once you are up and running to get recommendations and reviews.
Only for University of Tasmania only ?
do you get a student email address so you can access student discounts?
Yes. Can sign up to student beans, edu pages for Samsung etc etc
hi what is the benefit of edu email and student ID?
JUst wondering
Thank youYou get to tell everyone you're a uni student and live that Steve Buscemi meme.
Oh and the discounts you get from Samsung edu pages, student beans, myunidays etc
OP, what did you like about Dip of Sustainable Living?
I've explained in detail in this deal
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/675872
Specifically this post
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/folder/26330
If I just want a free lifelong edu email, is this the way to go? When must I withdraw by to not be charged any fees? Not keen on doing any modules if possible. Thanks.
May not be lifelong, but mine still works after 6 years. Withdraw from the unit before the census date, it should be a few weeks after the unit starts. Don't pay the amenities fee, you don't need to pay it if you withdraw from the unit before census, but if you pay it they give it back as a credit.
Thanks, I signed up for the Dip Sustainable Living, will do as you say fingers crossed I get to keep the email forever.
Was there a link specifically to apply for a student card?
Posted about this while back
Graduated since 2014:
You will have lifelong access to your UTAS email account. Visit the Alumni homepage for more information.
Graduated pre-2014:
Contact the Alumni Office at [email protected].
Finished studying but not graduating:
You will be able to access your UTAS email for about 12 months after your last enrolment
Does anyone know , I signed up for Sustainable Living in the past but didn't finish. If I signed up again would it be free?
Why are you doing this again? Presumably you kept the free edu email?
Because i didn't finish and would like to. I was enjoying it just had some stuff going on that took me away from it.
So to complete one of these courses, even if eligible for the HECS waiver, you still need to pay for the remainder as it is only up to four course units. Is this correct?
I think so. Or you can apply for the remaining four courses next year?
I was able to do all 8 units for free and get the diploma. They run some of the units over the 'summer' (December/January) as well as during the normal semesters.
Wow that’s insane. If I can get 8 free I’d do the “Graduate Certificate in Tourism, Environmental and Cultural Heritage” (or “diploma sustainable living” thereafter). How did you get the 8 free, is there a certain way I have to apply/ enrol? I appreciate the advice.
@Klamelb: I did all the enrolment stuff about 2 years ago, and the zany UTAS methodology changes every 6 months (and in some contexts, even more frequently than that). Therefore, you would need to call UTAS on the telephone to acquire up to date information. Back when I did exactly that they responded well to frank and simple questions like:
'I want to complete the entire Diploma of Sustainable Living for free, all online, and I want to do that as rapidly as possible. Can you please advise me of the best way to go about that?'
One piece of advice I can give you. If they advise you to 'hold off on enrolling in ALL subjects at once, just enrol in the first semester's subjects to get a feel for what you want to do after that', ignore that completely. Enrol in every unit of your desired course that you can, as soon as you can. Sometimes each semester's 'quota' fills up within a day or two, and it doesn't help that UTAS are 'super flaky/bizarrely cavalier' with respect to providing exact dates to students ahead of time.
No
Anyone know how to withdraw my application?
Yes. Ring UTAS up on the telephone, and instruct them to withdraw it.
Did anyone do the undergrad cert in data and environment before? Were there no online lectures?
Merged from Apply to Study Online Courses at University College with Fee Waiver for Eligible Domestic Students @ University of Tasmania
Go to Deal
Hi Everyone
I am a first time poster, so not sure how to do this but I wanted to share this great course that I started at the University College last year that they are running again. Classes start in only 1 week away.
I studied the Undergraduate Certificate in Applied Design. I only did two units, one in Design Thinking and the other one was Design Aesthetics. They were completely online, and I could jump in whenever I wanted to to look at the content. The teacher was awesome and I learnt a lot plus there was lots of other free stuff I got with the course like a student email address, student discounts and also Office 365 which was really useful for my studies.
The best bit for me though was that because I had passed the two units, I could apply for entry into my dream course in Education as I didn't have the right ATAR for this course. My friend also did two units which she loved in the Undergraduate Certificate in Community Support and this got her a place to study Nursing.
There looks like there are a few of the Undergraduate Certificates that come from the University College. I don't know about the other UTAS ones though - but from my experience the University College ones were great. The one I know are:
Undergraduate Certificate in Applied Design
Undergraduate Certificate in Community Support
Undergraduate Certificate in Applied Technologies
Undergraduate Certificate in AgribusinessCheers, Peta
How much time does the applied design certificate take, can you just coast through it without doing much work
Most weeks it was only a couple of hours per unit…a bit more when assessments were due. Not too bad though :)
Hmmm, well it could get me another year of student prices of Adobe CC. For a couple of hours per unit it probably worth it.
Thanks OP, signed up to the Applied Technologies Undergraduate Certificate
… what about textbooks? Did you have to spend a lot to buy mandatory reading materials? >.<
@yanhaot: I didn't need any textbooks - all of the academic readings were available online through the library.
The real question is how long can I remain enroled doing FA to keep the edu email?
Not sure if you don't complete your studies etc but I'm an alumni and have access nearly 8 years after I finished.
You can sign up, get an edu address, sign up for Samsung education portal, student beans etc and then withdraw from the course and you're set for at least a year.
The fee waiver details are outlined as such:
Fee waiver details
For domestic students commencing study in 2023, we are pleased to offer this degree with a 100% HECS and SSAF fee waiver.This waiver is valid for study commenced up to 18 February 2024 provided that the following eligibility criteria are met. You must be enrolled in unit(s) within this course by that date in order to be eligible.
If you are eligible, the HECS waiver will be automatically applied upon enrolment. The waiver is not available for OUA students.
You are an Australian citizen or permanent resident (i.e. eligible for a Commonwealth Supported Place [CSP]).
You are enrolled in the Undergraduate Certificate in Applied Design and commence study 2023.
You must be enrolled in a minimum of one unit and must remain enrolled until after the University Census Date relevant to the semester of study. If you are on an approved Leave of Absence (LOA), you are exempt from this requirement for the duration of your approved LOA.
To retain this fee waiver, you must engage with your enrolled units. If you have not engaged and receive a result of AN (Absent deemed failed) for all enrolled units in a given study period, will not retain the waiver/discount from the following study period onward. You cannot then apply to have the waiver/discount reinstated.
Not be excluded from the course based on academic progress or misconduct.
Any postgrad degrees?
Can you apply if you already had an undergraduate degree?
Yes
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This or free TAFE courses?