USyd holds MOOCS for business entrepreneurs

Free online courses to help businesses and entrepreneurs will be offered by the University of Sydney, with support from the NSW Government.

The five-week courses are designed to be an upskilling opportunity, and were funded by the government’s Boosting Business Innovation Program.

“The Boosting Business Innovation Program is providing $18 million to the state’s 11 universities — including $1.5 million to University of Sydney — and the CSIRO to work with businesses to support innovation,” said Deputy Premier and Minister for Small Business John Barilaro.

“The Boost program is bringing great business and academic minds together to create new products and ideas to support innovation in our economy.”

The University of Sydney will launch the two ‘Massive Open Online Courses’ (MOOCs) on Monday, 25 June and they will be open to all members of the public. The courses have been developed by the university in consultation with business, including UBank and insurance risk company Swiss Re.

The first course, ‘Design strategy: Design thinking for business strategy and entrepreneurship’, is for entrepreneurial managers looking to bring design thinking into their corporate strategy. The second course, ‘Innovation Through Design: Think, Make, Break, Repeat’, will focus on how entrepreneurs can use design thinking for strategic and innovative advantage within their profession. Both courses are free but there will be a minimal fee to receive a certificate of completion.

The courses will be launched at a free networking breakfast on Monday by the NSW Department of Industry’s Executive Director of Industry, Trade and Investment, Kylie Bell, and University of Sydney Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education) Professor Pip Pattison.

The breakfast will include an expert panel discussion on the role of design in industry and innovation led by Associate Professors Eric Knight and Martin Tomitsch from the University of Sydney and including representatives from technology company Atlassian and insurance risk company Swiss Re.

University of Sydney Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research – Enterprise & Engagement) Associate Professor Eric Knight said businesses were encouraged to take advantage of the courses.

“The partnership between the Department of Industry and University of Sydney through the Boost program has had a huge impact on our ability to leverage internal expertise to benefit small to medium-sized businesses and enterprises more broadly. The Massive Open Online Courses, which we are proud to launch with the department next week, are just one example,” he said.

To register for the courses from Monday, visit https://www.coursera.org/.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/SIKOV

Please follow us and share on Twitter and Facebook. You can also subscribe for FREE to our weekly newsletter and quarterly magazine.