Mode of deliveryOn Campus
AQF Level9
Duration3 Years
Full-Time
LocationSydney NSW
Melbourne VIC
Course Fees See Fees
The Master of Information Technology program is designed to meet the Australia Computer Society’s (ACS) requirements for course accreditation, having fulfilled the Core Body of Knowledge (CBoK) as specified by the ACS. The course aims to produce Information Technology (IT) graduates who will be eligible to gain employment in a range of different and modern areas of Information Technology. Being designed to meet the Australian ACS requirements for accreditation ensures the quality and industry-readiness of its graduates.
The course is built on providing students with foundational knowledge of core and key areas of information technology and systems. Specialisation units in the second year provide opportunities for study in current important and contemporary IT areas including Cloud and DevOps Engineering, Computer Networks & Systems Engineering, and Software Engineering. The course is characterised by an end of program capstone project comprising two connected units. These capstone units provide students with the opportunity to work in a team to solve a complex real-world information technology problem, drawing from the knowledge and skills acquired over the whole program of study.
The GCIT/GDIT/MIT nested set of courses has been designed to include both a Graduate Certificate of Information Technology and Graduate Diploma of Information Technology as both entry and exit points.
Graduates of the AHE Master of Information Technology will have demonstrated achievement of the following Course Learning Outcomes and be able to:
CLO 1: Apply advanced and contemporary knowledge and skills to solve a range of information technology problems.
CLO 2: Critically evaluate opportunities and challenges in the development of information technologies solution to problems in organisations and society.
CLO 3: Create justifiable and creative solutions to complex information technology problems through research and use of industry standard methodologies, working individually and/or collaboratively in teams.
CLO 4: Communicate complex information technology concepts and solutions effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
CLO 5: Apply and integrate professional, ethical, and sustainability behaviours into information technology investigations, system developments, and solutions.
The proposed Master of Information Technology aims to provide graduates to the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services industry, particularly Computer Systems Designs and Related Services.
AHE Master of Information Technology graduates are expected to find employment in IT-related areas including:
Cyber Security Analyst/ Cyber Security Technician
Networking Engineer/Network Specialist
Software Developer/Software Engineer
Cloud Engineer/Cloud Computing Engineer
DevOps Engineer
Software Tester
Systems Analyst
Technical Support Officer
User Experience Analyst
The course is 2 years full-time comprising of 16 units (160 Credit Points) where a full-time student undertakes 4 units of study per study period.
International students on a student visa are required to study full time (i.e. must complete a minimum of 1.0 Equivalent Full Time Study Load (EFTSL) of study per year). At Apex, 1.0 EFTSL is defined as 80 credit points a year (8 units where each unit is 10 credit points).
The course can be undertaken part-time for domestic students only. The course is 4 years part-time comprising of 16 units (160 Credit Points).
A study period means the intake semester (or intake Summer School) and each subsequent semester.
Full-time students normally undertake four (4) units (subjects) of study during a semester.
Each semester is divided into two half-semester blocks/terms and students normally take two (2) units per block/term.
Each unit consists of 12 hours of online classes + 24 hours of face-to-face classes over a 7-week block/term (exclusive of any exams or additional assessment week).
Students are also expected to spend approximately twelve (18) hours per week in private study and completing assessments for each unit they undertake along with attending all online and face-to-face classes.
This unit introduces students to the key concepts and technologies of information systems and computer networks that drive efficiency and effectiveness in modern organisations. Students will gain a clear understanding of modern information system componentry and how computer networks are constructed and operate. They will also consider both the benefits and inherit risks of cloud computing, ubiquitous computing, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence.
Students will gain an understanding of privacy, ethical, and security issues associated with modern information systems. Finally, students will develop their research and critical analysis skills and be able to apply these skills to critique information sources and report their findings in an academically sound manner.
In this unit, students are equipped with a strong foundation in programming concepts and techniques using Python. Throughout the unit, students will develop skills in designing, coding, and testing of both procedural and object-oriented programs to solve problems. In addition, students will learn to use and differentiate both procedural and object-oriented programming paradigms.
Students will learn to apply appropriate data structures and algorithms to solve programming tasks and use Python packages in data analysis to create well-structured and documented Python programs. Finally, students will learn how to apply appropriate testing and exception handling techniques to ensure their programs are robust and efficient.
In this unit students will learn how to utilise the industry standard traditional and agile approaches in project management to effectively manage information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) projects. Students will analyse and evaluate different project management methodologies, and design and develop a project plan and schedule for an IS project.
Students will learn how to apply IS/IT project management risk management principles and evaluate/select appropriate IS/IT project management tools and technologies. Students will also learn the importance and appropriate strategies of effective communication with stakeholders as well as AI technologies are changing the way that project managers function.
Digital information systems produce vast amounts of data, and appropriate management of this data is essential for decision making and value-adding. This unit introduces the fundamental concepts in database design and development, covering the conceptual level and physical level of database management systems (DBMS). In this unit, students will learn how to model business data using standard data modelling methodologies and apply this for the conceptual, logical, and physical design of relational databases.
Students will also learn to apply industry standard languages and approaches to create, query and manipulate databases. The practical challenges involved with deploying database management systems such as database performance tuning, transaction management, Internet connectivity, and security are also covered. Contemporary approaches and technologies for the storage and retrieval of semi-structured and unstructured data are examined.
Finally, the impact that AI technologies are having on the way data is storage, managed, and used will be explored, along with how databases are a key element of the GenAI revolution.
In this unit, students develop skills in systems analysis and design. The unit will provide an overview of the Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and its associated techniques and methodologies. SDLC is the process applied by organisations when designing and developing information systems.
The unit will look at two types of SDLC, specifically waterfall and iterative (agile). Students will learn and apply user/task-centred design methodology as a foundation of good systems design. Students will learn to review and consider the drivers and purpose of projects aimed at the development of new or revised information systems.
They will then develop system requirements (elicitation and specification) using techniques, tools, and perspectives essential for information systems analysts. The unit will require students to apply the tools and techniques of system analysis and design to solve a real industry business.
ICT5101 Information Systems and Networks
This unit provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the key concepts and principles of cyber security. The course covers a range of topics, including the fundamentals of network security, cryptography, cyber threats and attacks, risk management, and incident response. Students will learn about the latest technologies and techniques used to protect computer networks and systems from cyberattacks, as well as the legal and ethical issues related to cyber security.
Students will also learn how AI technologies can be used to enhance cyber security defence mechanisms but can also play an increasing role in cyber threats and attacks. Students will gain key insights into identifying and mitigating security risks, approaches to designing secure systems, and implementing best practices in cyber security. By the end of the unit, students will have a solid foundation in cyber security that can be applied to a range of industries and roles, from IT professionals to business managers and executives.
ICT5104 Database Systems
This unit provides students with an overview of the complex area of data analysis. Students will learn to apply key statistical approaches and draw inferences from sample data. They will also learn the underpinning approaches used in modern data analytics systems and be able to use and critically assess a range of data analysis and visualisation tools to interpret data sets.
Students will learn about potential bias in data sets and be able to assess the quality and integrity of data sources, as well as the social and ethics dimension of large-scale collection and use of personal and behavioural data.
Students will also explore the role that AI will play in streamlining data collection, preparation, and analysis for improved forecasting and predictive analysis particularly related to big data.
ICT5101 Information Systems and Network and ICT5104 Database Systems
Cloud computing allows the provision of computing services such as software, storage, analytics, and intelligence over the Internet. It enables service users to trade fixed computing expenses for usage based variable expenditures, to benefit from reduced service costs due to economies of scale, increase agility and flexibility, and to reduce maintenance costs.
This unit starts by discussing the business case of cloud computing, including benefits, challenges, business models, and types. Thereafter, it dives deep into the underlying technology of cloud computing systems and covers an overview of virtualisation, containers, and virtual networks. It also covers selected topics in automation and orchestration, which are essential for cloud computing systems.
Students experience implementing and deploying basic cloud applications and learn about cloud computing programming paradigms. This unit also facilitates students’ exploration of new and emerging technologies that are closely connected to cloud computing, such as Edge Computing, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Software Defined Networks (SDN), and AI. In this unit students also explore the opportunities and challenges for cloudbased solutions.
60 credit points including ICT5102 Systems Analysis and Design, and ICT5103 Project Management for IS/IT.
In ICT5220 Applied IT Project – Part A, combined with the ensuing unit ICT5320 Applied IT Project – Part B, students will demonstrate application of the knowledge and skills gained throughout the course by tackling the development of a solution to a complex IT problem. In this unit, students will work within a team to address a real-world complex IT problem by applying industry standard and modern IT iterative and incremental project development methodology such as UP (Unified Process) Model.
Students will elucidate the IT problem and associated imperatives/drivers of key stakeholders. The students will explore and document the project definition and scope and then develop a set of justifiable system requirements and specifications that define the system to be built to solve the IT problem. The team of students will assess various technologies and/or approaches to determine a feasible approach for the creation of a solution.
Finally, the team will create a prototype demonstrating the concept of the proposed solution and a system design for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Students also will consider and address any ethical, sustainability, security and/or privacy impacts of potential solutions.
Students select their first specialisation unit: See the table above for the list of available specialisation units.
Students select their second specialisation unit: See the table above for the list of available specialisation units.
Students select their first elective from the list of specialisation units within the MIT or other postgraduate units offered by AHE.
Students select their third specialisation unit (unit drawn from a MIT specialisation coded ICT53xx): See the table above for the list of available specialisation units.
Students select their fourth specialisation unit (unit drawn from a MIT specialisation coded ICT53xx): See the table above for the list of available specialisation units.
Students select their second elective from the list of specialisation units within the MIS or other postgraduate units offered by AHE.
100 credit points including ICT5220 Applied IT Project – Part A, and at least one specialisation unit.
This unit follows from ICT5220 Applied IT Project – Part A and together these demonstrate the ability of a student to develop a solution to a complex IT problem. Working as a team, students start by reviewing the set of system requirements and specification together with a design for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that was previously developed in the preceding unit.
Students have an opportunity to refine the specifications and apply the Unified Process (UP) Construction & Transition phases of the iterative and incremental project development methodology to test their design based on further considerations and stakeholder feedback. The design of the MVP is refined and a project plan for the implementation of the MVP is created during the Transition phase, to ensure that the functional requirements have been addressed and documented properly.
The MVP is then implemented with feedback from stakeholders prior to implementation of the full system. Students will document and present the system along with a detailed project report to explain the operation of the system and how it addresses the complex IT problem. Students will justify choices made and approaches taken, as well as discuss the methods/techniques adopted in the development of the IT solution.
ICT5102 Programming Principles, and ICT5105 Systems Analysis and Design.
DevOps evolved from a movement to better link software development activities (Dev) with IT operations activities (Ops) within organisations to facilitate the linkage and integration between development teams with operations teams to form one continuous process. The emergence of DevOps as a transformative paradigm is rooted in the demand for continuous operation, necessitating ongoing patching, updates, and feature enhancements in modern enterprise systems.
This unit not only introduces students to foundational concepts but also delves into advanced practices and technologies. Topics covered include Infrastructure as Code techniques, Infrastructure as a Service, the establishment of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines for efficient software version delivery, utilisation of containers and container orchestration tools, automation of deployment and containerised applications using open-source tools, and the principles of Microservices.
Students will engage with service management frameworks, establish performance targets and metrics, and conduct maturity assessments, thereby gaining a comprehensive understanding of DevOps best practices through insightful case studies.
This multifaceted approach ensures that students not only grasp fundamental principles but also develop an advanced skill set aligned with contemporary industry requirements. The impact of AI tools and approaches will also be explored.
ICT5102 Programming Principles, and ICT5105 Systems Analysis, and Design and ICT5205 Cloud Computing.
This unit introduces students to the key concept of an essential phases of System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), which are software testing and deployment. This is necessary to professionally exhibit building and delivering the software applications to the real-life production in a secure environment.
Students will gain a theoretical and a practical analysis about the most appropriate and secure advanced techniques of testing the software applications including functional and non-functional testing. Moreover, student will delve in functional testing types such as unit testing, integration testing, user acceptance testing, smoke and sanity testing and security testing. The security testing includes black box testing and white box testing with various software framework tools to equip students with the knowledge and skills related to industry best practice that support continuous integration / continuous deployment (CI/CD).
In additional to functional testing, students will learn designing and evaluating the non-function testing that supports the software deployment on-premises or on the cloud in a secure environment. Students will critically review different options of hosting software applications depending on the required performance, usability, scalability, and security. They will be provided with a simple hosting example, and more advanced cloud hosting methods on cloud-based web services platform (such as AWS).
Finally, the impact that AI technologies are having on the software testing automation and management will be discussed including various testing and secure deployment techniques.
ICT5201 Cyber Security, and ICT5205 Cloud Computing.
This unit introduces students with the basic and advance concepts in security and privacy in cloud computing, for services and environments. Cloud computing and cloud services are crucial part of our lives in modern society whether we use these services for business, entertainment, or socialisation. There is a large amount of data including personal and financial sensitive information in the cloud. Hence, cloud services become an attractive target for adversaries.
This unit discusses the best practices for securing data and other services in the cloud to protect data and information privacy against adversarial attacks. The unit begins by introducing the best practices in security and privacy for cloud compute, storage and networking services. Throughout this unit, students will develop skills and knowledge of understanding cloud service models, designing best security and privacy protocols for cloud services and implementation plans for deploying these security protocols. In addition to an overall security perspective, the unit provides practical examples from some large cloud service providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform etc.
The unit emphases on the compliance and regulatory requirements related to cloud security and privacy and provides knowledge and skills to students related to compliance and regulations. The unit develops students’ skills on how to engage with cloud service providers to decide on the best and economical service plans that suit to the requirements of an enterprise.
Finally, the potential impacts of AI on cloud security and privacy will be explored both from a new threat dimension as well as exploring possible tools and technologies that help automate security processes.
ICT5102 Programming Principles, and ICT5205 Cloud Computing, and ideally after ICT5301 Software Development and DevOps.
This unit aims to cultivate advanced competencies in students within the specialised realm of DevOps automation, emphasising the adept deployment of iterative updates to applications already in production to foster a continuous and agile delivery pipeline. In the dynamic landscape of modern software development and IT operations, the imperative lies in orchestrating and automating workflows systematically to attain heightened efficiency and agility.
The unit explores the foundational principles, sophisticated tools, and advanced techniques that constitute the bedrock of triumphant automation practices within the DevOps framework. Students will analyse, synthesise, and apply novel concepts – such as artificial intelligence and the blockchain – to optimise DevOps automation.
ICT5101 Information Systems and Networks
This unit introduces students to the key concepts in networking technologies and computer networks to drive efficiency and effectiveness in modern organisations. Students will consider both the benefits and inherit risks of modern-day networking applications which are part of every aspect of our lives.
Students will gain a clear understanding of modern networking concepts and underlying technologies such as physical layer, networking protocols and standards, design and development of practical networking technologies for personal as well as enterprise applications. Students will also gain an insight on the practical application of networking technologies in solving real life networking issues and challenges.
The unit discusses how the various theoretical networking concepts can be applied into building actual communication networks. The concepts of physical and wireless media are explored in the unit along with benefits of layered OSI model and related protocols. Wireless LANs, broadband wireless technologies, Bluetooth and RFID technologies are some of the examples covered in this unit.
Students gain skills in routing, QoS and internetworking with thorough understanding of IP addressing for various networks. Application layer concepts such as DNS, Email, WWW, streaming and delivery of contents are also discussed in the unit.
Finally, students will develop their research and critical analysis skills and be able to apply these skills to critique networking technologies and report their findings in an academically sound manner.
ICT5204 Networking Technologies.
Students will learn advanced networking knowledge and skills in network architecture, analysing needs of individuals as well as enterprise related to networks, propose appropriate network design, implement the proposed network design and analyse the performance of the designed network using professional standards.
Students will develop their capabilities in designing, working and troubleshooting practical networks and related technologies such Local Area Networks (LANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs), Software Defined Networks (SDN) and Internet of Things (IoT).
The unit emphasis of dual aspects of network design namely, investigating the user requirements and designing and implementing the practical cutting edge networking technologies. Students will learn how to customise their proposed design as per the needs of customers (individual as well as enterprise) and then using best industry practices implement their proposed design.
Students will learn measuring performance of the networks using professional standards. Finally, students will learn how to apply appropriate design measures for the best user experience and explore the impact that AI may have on designing and troubleshooting networks.
ICT5201 Cyber Security and ICT5204 Networking Technologies.
This unit introduces the students with some basic and advanced concepts of wireless communication and network security. Wireless communication is everywhere as in modern society, we want to be connected everywhere, anywhere and anytime. The role of wireless communication in our daily lives is critical whether it’s for entertainment, work, socialisation or business.
The invention of new wireless communication technologies such as 5G, Massive MIMO and Internet of Things have made this role even more critical. This unit discusses the basic as well as advanced concepts of wireless communication and emphasises on the role of these technologies in modern society.
The unit begins with introducing the fundamental radio frequency communication networks and how they evolve to the modern complex systems. The importance of frequency spectrum and its uses in wireless communication are then discussed.
The role of modern AI and ML technologies in wireless networks and security are discussed in the unit. For a practical wireless communication network, knowing functionality of various components is crucial which is covered in this unit. Several wireless networks spanning from personal area networks to more broad enterprise networks are taught to the students.
Finally, wireless network security challenges and concerns are discussed, and their mitigation strategies are presented in the unit. stakeholders.
ICT5201 Cyber Security and ICT5204 Networking Technologies
This unit introduces students to the latest concepts and technologies used in the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is one of the most rapidly evolving technologies today and this unit imparts the knowledge, skills and practical use cases of IoT ecosystems to students. Students will learn a combination of technical and high-level understanding of the principles of IoT systems.
Students will gain a clear understanding of the practical use cases of IoTs in real life applications. The unit covers some basics of data communication and networking technologies, IoT architecture, IoT smart sensors, IoT connectivity, analytics and IoT security and privacy and IoT use case examples.
The unit begins with the introduction of IoTs and present several examples of IoT use cases to teach students how IoT can be applied to various IoT verticals. The concept of smart sensors as well as their use in IoT ecosystem is then described. Because internet connectivity is an essential part of any IoT system, the unit explores wired and wireless connectivity schemes including cellular IoT in the 4G and 5G eras.
The impact of AI technologies on IoT based smart applications is also explored in the unit. Throughout the unit, students will develop skills related to IoT protocols, analytics as well as IoT security and privacy which are important and essential elements of any IoT system. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques are crucial part of any IoT system and are taught in the context of IoT systems in this unit.
Finally, students will learn how to design IoT based smart applications that can be implemented for many real-life scenarios.
ICT5102 Programming Principles and ICT5105 Systems Analysis and Design and ICT5205 Cloud Computing.
This unit introduces students to the key concept of an essential phases of System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), which are software testing and deployment. This is necessary to professionally exhibit building and delivering the software applications to the real-life production in a secure environment.
Students will gain a theoretical and a practical analysis about the most appropriate and secure advanced techniques of testing the software applications including functional and non-functional testing. Moreover, student will delve in functional testing types such as unit testing, integration testing, user acceptance testing, smoke and sanity testing and security testing. The security testing includes black box testing and white box testing with various software framework tools to equip students with the knowledge and skills related to industry best practice that support continuous integration / continuous deployment (CI/CD).
In additional to functional testing, students will learn designing and evaluating the non-function testing that supports the software deployment on-premises or on the cloud in a secure environment. Students will critically review different options of hosting software applications depending on the required performance, usability, scalability, and security. They will be provided with a simple hosting example, and more advanced cloud hosting methods on cloud-based web services platform (such as AWS).
Finally, the impact that AI technologies are having on the software testing automation and management will be discussed including various testing and secure deployment techniques.
ICT5102 Programming Principles and ICT5105 Systems Analysis and Design
This unit provides students with a comprehensive understanding of object-oriented principles and practices in software design and development. It focuses on applying these concepts in creating robust, maintainable software solutions.
Students will explore object-oriented programming (OOP) core concepts, methodologies, modelling techniques, design patterns, and best practices, gaining skills to analyse, design, and implement software systems effectively using OOP techniques.
The unit begins by introducing students to the foundational principles of OOP, emphasising the concepts of encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism. It further explores the importance of testing and quality assurance in object-oriented design to ensure the software is robust and reliable contexts.
ICT5102 Programming Principles and ICT5105 Systems Analysis and Design
The unit provides students with solid foundations in the use of data structures and algorithms in software development. The main objective of the unit is to teach the students to select and design appropriate data structures and algorithms that address specific types of problems.
The unit also covers software design patterns and how these can be used aid in the design and development of efficient, effective, and robust software systems. This unit covers the concept of ‘correctness of algorithms’, as well as the computational complexities associated with differing algorithms.
This unit is design to cover both the important theoretical knowledge as well as in applying these to gain real practical experience. The study of data structures, algorithms, and design patterns is carried out within an object-oriented context.
ICT5102 Programming Principles and ICT5104 Database Systems and ICT5105 Systems Analysis and Design and ICT5201 Cyber Security
This unit covers the design and development of mobile applications from a technical and user experience perspective. The underlying environments made available by mobile devices will be reviewed and the relative merits of different implementation technologies will be evaluated. Important aspects of the mobile UI/UX design processes will be covered with perspectives of graphic designers, stakeholders, designers from non-tech backgrounds, and developers.
The relationship between mobile applications and the web will be discussed as well as the requirements for providing an effective user experience for offline and intermittently connected devices. The unit will also cover the design of the user experience for mobile applications and develop students’ ability to critically evaluate the usability of a mobile design. The unit will also explore how AI tools can enhance productivity in mobile application development.
Students are to choose two (2) additional units from the list of specialisation units above or other postgraduate units offered by Apex Australia Higher Education.
Refer to the Master of Information Technology Course Guide for more information.
Specific Course Admission Criteria for Master of Information Technology: None
General Academic Admission Criteria applies. You are required to read the Admission Criteria and ensure you satisfy the requirements before you apply.
Admission CriteriaTuition Fee: AUD $62,400
Enrolment Fee: AUD $250
Note: Scholarships may apply
