Why ACS Accreditation matters

To clear up any questions you may have, here is the definitive Torrens University Australia guide to ACS Accreditation. Read on to find out exactly what it means, how it could affect your decision and if ACS Accreditation is important for your ICT career in Australia.

What is the Australian Computing Society (ACS)?

Formed in 1966, the Australian Computing Society (ACS) is Australia’s largest and most renowned independent professional body representing information and communications technology professionals. With over 47,000 members across the country, the ACS represents the interests of members and professionals across government, industry and education.

The ACS offers a lot of different services to their members, including networking events, career support, short courses and training opportunities, a digital careers platform, an online library and access to industry reports. ACS also provides a useful Migration Skills Assessment for ICT professionals considering migrating to Australia for work.

ACS Course Accreditation

In addition to these services for professionals and members, the ACS also offers an independent accreditation service to universities and education providers within Australia. This effectively means that industry experts from the ACS take a look at every aspect of course content and delivery, and make a judgement as to whether the course is up to their high standards.

So, if a course is marked as ACS Accredited, you know that it has recently gone through this assessment process and has been approved as up to standard.

3 simple reasons why ACS Course Accreditation matters

What does ACS Accreditation truly mean in terms of benefits to students? After all, just because a course has not been ACS Accredited does not necessarily mean that it’s a bad quality course, or that you can’t have a successful career after graduation. However, there are some clear benefits to ACS Accreditation.

1. Guaranteed up-to-date, high-quality training

Accreditation confirms the university's commitment to quality and continuous improvement through rigorous and comprehensive peer review. It demonstrates the university's dedication to being benchmarked against international standards. Along with the university's continuing engagement with industry, this external focus helps to ensure its programs remain relevant and up to date and that they match the standards of the top institutions in their fields. In other words, you can be completely sure before you enrol that your degree will be of a high quality, industry-relevant, and cutting-edge.

2. Support your skilled migration visa application

Are you considering coming to Australia to study ICT, a Master of Business and Information Systems or other related field and then applying for a working visa after graduation? As well as providing accreditation for courses, the ACS is the official ICT body providing skilled migration assessments for working visa applications. Graduates in this field often use the ACS skilled migration assessment service as a way to support their working visa application.

If you enrol in an ACS Accredited course, you are giving yourself the best possible chance of getting a positive ACS skilled migration assessment later on, which in turn will help you in your visa application process. If you are considering applying for a visa, it’s essential to make sure that the specific visa requirements and eligibility criteria align with the course and skill set you intend to pursue.

3. Employer recognition

As the biggest professional body for the field of ICT in the country, the ACS brand is recognised across the industry as a sign of high-quality training. By graduating from an ACS Accredited course, students are able to clearly signal to potential employers that they are highly trained and industry-ready, armed with all the most up-to-date knowledge.

ACS Accreditation at Torrens University

At Torrens University Australia, the Master of Business Information Systems is an ACS Accredited course. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the course combines core and elective units across ICT and business management, including; data management, systems analysis and design, requirements engineering, microservices architecture, ethical decision making and strategic planning.

As well as offering ACS Accredited courses, Torrens University was ranked 1st in Australia for the high quality of educational experience across all postgraduate Computing and Information Systems courses, in both the 2021 and 2022 QILT Surveys.