Industry Engagement

The Faculty of Information Technology has strong and productive educational and research alliances with industry partners. Partnerships with major global organisations and leading Australian companies as well as large international business and IT consultancies enable us to offer students attractive scholarships and industry-based learning opportunities. These partnerships also ensure that our IT courses are current, relevant and adaptable in a rapidly changing world.

There are a number of aspects to our involvement with the industry:

• Industry-Based Learning (IBL)
• Industry Experience projects (IE projects)
• Industry training and certification
• Industry-Research collaborations

Industry-Based Learning

The Faculty of Information Technology now has Industry-Based Learning (IBL) streams across three of its four undergraduate degrees. In addition to the selective and prestigious program within the Bachelor of Business Information Systems degree, IBL streams are now available within both the Computer Science and Software Engineering degrees. All three degrees are offered at Monash's Clayton campus, and the IBL streams are offered to selected students following an application and interview process.

In the Bachelor of Business Information Systems degree, students are given the opportunity to complete two 22-week Industry-Based Learning placements with the program's industry partners, and receive a $36,000 scholarship, paid over the three years of study. For the Computer Science and Software Engineering degrees, students complete one 22-week Industry-Based Learning placement with one of the the program's industry partners, and receive a $15,000 scholarship.

These industry placements are part of the curriculum and are formally assessed and credited towards the student's degree.

For information about the Bachelor of Business Information Systems IBL program, current industry partners, the benefits of becoming a partner, and who to contact, visit the BBIS Industry Partnerships page.

Additional information about the IBL program, career options, profiles of current and past students and competitions for students can also be found on the Business IT Experience (bITe) website. This innovative web-based program was designed by the students for year 9 to 12 students.

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Industry Experience projects

Most of our IT bachelor degrees, offered at our campuses in Australia, South Africa and Malaysia, contain an industry experience (IE) project in their final year, where students may develop a website, a multimedia CD, a database, a network solution or a software application for an external client. This is a cornerstone project, which draws on the students' knowledge and skills acquired during the rest of the degree, and provides valuable real-world experience.

From a company's point of view, it is often a challenge to find the time and resources to dedicate to the IT-based business operations. Industry experience projects provide companies with an opportunity to solve some of their IT needs at no cost to them, while providing undergraduate students with a valuable work experience. If you wish to become an IE project client, please contact the relevant project's coordinator to discuss your IT needs.

For a list of degrees offering industry experience projects, their coordinators and links to project websites, please visit the IT Industry Experience Projects page.

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Industry training and certification

Faculty of IT has partnered with, and is using the technology of, some of the most prominent industry vendors in order to bring vendor-specific curriculum to the university classroom. This ensures that students are equipped with up-to-date marketable IT skills and improves students' opportunities for initial job placement. This is achieved through integration of current technologies into the curriculum, and through the short courses and vendor certifications offered by Monash Professional.

Monash Professional is a subsidiary of Monash College Pty Ltd, which in turn is fully owned by Monash University. This relationship provides access to the highest quality academic resources, across one of the largest and most comprehensive IT short course programs in Australia. Monash Professional offers students and professionals affordable instructor-led training in both custom designed and industry-recognised courses.

Faculty of IT is closely associated with Monash Professional, which presents many benefits to its IT students. The following courses offered by Monash Professional are of special interest to IT students:

• Cisco Certified Networking Associate Certification (CCNA, modules 1-4)
  IT students can complete modules 1 & 2, or modules 3 & 4 of the Cisco certification course and have them counted towards their IT degree (subject to the degree coordinator's formal approval). Furthermore, your Cisco certification will be recorded on your official Monash academic transcript. Please note, however, that Cisco certification is not relevant to all IT degrees. Hence, you should check with your degree coordinator before enrolling to do a Cisco module.
  
• Professional Certificate in IT and Executive Certificate in IT
  If you have no tertiary qualifications, but have substantial IT industry experience, the Professional Certificate in IT or Executive Certificate in IT is intended to lead to a graduate or postgraduate diploma. Upon successful completion of a subsequent relevant graduate or postgraduate diploma (with course leader advice), students may be eligible to articulate into a Faculty of Information Technology masters by coursework degree.

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Industry-Research Collaborations

We place a very strong emphasis on engaging with industry and on the commercial, "real world" relevance of our research. We work closely with and receive funding from business and industry within Australia and internationally on an on-going basis. There are many ways industry partners can benefit from our IT research. There are opportunities for:

• collaborative industry-funded research projects
• government-funded initiatives, such as Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage project grants
• venture capital, incubation and partnerships
• use of the IT research facilities by your R & D team
• consulting to industry

For information about our research strengths, research success stories and opportunities to work with IT researchers visit our Research web pages.

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